IT CIOs believe their businesses will face more cyber security threats within the next 5 years

77% of Chief Information Officers believe their businesses will be up against more threats to cyber security within the next five years due to a lack of available talent within IT Security. According to a recent report by Robert Half Technology the top three IT security risks for businesses within the next five years are;

1. Data abuse/Data integrity (60%)

2. Cybercrime (54%)

3. Spying/Spyware/Ransomware (39%)

In order to help deal with these potential threats CIO’s are unsurprisingly looking to increase their number of IT Security professionals within the next year with 27% saying they will be doing so.

The positions most in demand are;

1. IT Security Analyst (junior level)

2. Information Security Officer (mid-level)

3. Security Operations Manager (mid-level)

Last year the average number of global security incidents increased by 38% and over two thirds of UK businesses have been the victim of a cyber reach or attack within the past year.

*Source PwC

With this increase in incidents cyber security professionals are high in demand but also proving difficult to find, which you can see from Robert Half’s research below.

Most in demand	Most challenging to find
Cloud security (51%)	1.  Cloud security (32%)
IT security technologies (47%)	2.  IT security technologies (29%)
Big data/data analytics (37%)	3.  Security architecture (26%)
Applications security (30%)	4.  Hacking/penetration testing (26%)
Hacking/penetration testing (30%)	5.  Applications security (22%)

The company also recommended that CIOs and IT leaders need to take 6 core steps when building their cyber security programme.

1. Be proactive
2. Treat IT security as a continuous enterprise-wide process
3. Have necessary skills
4. Support training
5. Use big data and analytics
6. Get everyone involved

To find out more about the Robert Half Cybersecurity – protecting your future report click here.