David Higgins , Senior Director , Field Technology Office at CyberArk

Josh Blackwelder , Deputy Chief Information Security Officer , SentinelOne

Aaron Rosenmund , Director of Security Curriculum and Research at Pluralsight

Mandy Andress , CISO at Elastic

Skills gaps not only impact organisations ’ security defences , but also the wellbeing of the wider team as they struggle to do their jobs effectively as the sophistication and frequency of attacks increases .

Half of CISOs who took part in a survey conducted by Fastly said that training or acquiring cybersecurity talent was a priority over the last 12 months . A total of 44 % of those surveyed also highlighted plans to improve their organisation ’ s overall security posture through a programme of training ( 44 %), designed to make security more accessible at all levels of their business .

So , what can organisations do to address this challenge ? As we often hear in technology , it ’ s a combination of people and processes .

According to 2023 research from CyberArk , nearly a third of business leaders think cybersecurity skills gaps are hindering defences .

David Higgins , Senior Director , Field Technology Office at CyberArk , said : “ This means security teams may not be as alert to potential risks as they should be . This increases the risk of them missing attacks and the same situation can also mean that co-workers are more likely to fall victims to phishing attacks .”

AI and technology , he says , can be part of the solution , alleviating ‘ low level ’ workloads – like automating threat detection and responses .

“ AI and automation can mean practitioners are better able to focus on more meaningful , higherlevel tasks . This applies to all industries as well , allowing STEM professionals to put their mental health first while focusing on tasks they enjoy and continuously expanding their skillset ,” he said .

Josh Blackwelder , Deputy Chief Information Security Officer , SentinelOne , agreed that AI is key to filling the gap as security teams grapple with an ever-growing number of data sources on the scale of petabytes .

“ With AI , companies have an infinitely scalable analyst that can supercharge their teams and accelerate their efforts ,” he said .

“ The impact of AI on the workforce will be immense – we ’ re already seeing the improvements it can drive in productivity and efficiency . And it will be a critical tool CISOs can use to enhance their teams as it reduces the learning curve and makes security operations more accessible to a larger pool of talent .”

Aaron Rosenmund , Director of Security Curriculum and Research at Pluralsight , described a ‘ constant cat and mouse game ’ for cyber teams trying to keep up with the evolving threat landscape , highlighting that only 17 % of tech workers are completely confident in their cybersecurity skills .

He suggests businesses must provide cyber teams with opportunities to practise in ‘ low-risk environments ’ and build confidence , using a blue team-red team attack simulation .

“ This type of simulation is a great way to determine whether employees need to upskill and help teams to know they are ready to act quickly and calmly to protect the company ’ s sensitive data when needed ,” he added .

For Mandy Andress , CISO at Elastic , security leaders should also prioritise diversity in hiring practices .

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