Ride the Lightning

U.S. Can’t Fill 771,000 Cybersecurity Jobs

July 21, 2022

The Washington Post reported (gift article) on July 19 that the U.S. cannot fill 771,000 open cybersecurity jobs – last year we had 550,000 cybersecurity jobs we couldn’t fill. This is a problem we cannot afford as a nation.

Those stats came from National Cyber Director Chris Inglis, who highlighted the vacancies as a “national issue.”

“It turns out that no matter where you look — private sector, public sector — about one third of the jobs that have IT or cyber in their job title are unfilled,” Inglis said, calling the intersection a “common problem or a common opportunity.”

Last month, the congressionally led Cyberspace Solarium Commission recommended that cybersecurity leaders develop a group of human resource specialists within the government to hire cybersecurity professionals. The commission also recommended getting more data about the government’s cybersecurity workforce and investing more money into recruiting and retaining cybersecurity professionals.

“We’re about two-thirds manned now,” according to the commission’s executive director, Mark Montgomery. “When you’re two-thirds manned, you clearly aren’t getting the job done. It can make for low morale. … You can end up with an underperforming, unhappy, undertrained workforce.”

Part of the problem is that cybersecurity is complex – and changes daily if not hourly. It is exacting work that requires a lot of study to keep current. We did our part when we persuaded our neighbor’s son, who is heading to college soon, that cybersecurity was the place to be. We need a lot more of our sons and daughters to explore whether they might be suited to the challenging demands of being a cybersecurity professional!

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225, Fairfax, VA 22030
Email:   Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
https://senseient.com
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