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Shortage of cybersecurity professionals triggers fight for talent

A big fight is underway for cybersecurity professionals, with a nearly 30% demand-supply gap for cybersecurity jobs.There are between 20,000 and 25,000 unfilled positions in cyber security profiles in India currently, and this number is expected to expand as telcos push 5G roll out, and companies continue their digital transformation journeys, staffing experts said.

“(Between) 70-75% of tech companies in India, including IT companies, are looking to hire more cyber security professionals as their existing teams are understaffed or do not have adequate skills to handle the evolving dynamics of internet privacy,” said Sanjay Shetty, director, professional search & selection, and strategic accounts at Randstad India.

Staffing experts add that apart from tech firms, even enterprises are investing in building a cybersecurity workforce as they adopt digitalisation of their processes.

This is in addition to security professionals needed by telcos to ensure secure network operations in both, their enterprise and mobility arm. For telcos, the demand for security experts spans multiple niche profiles given the diversity of security functions that rise due to 5G roll out and its enterprise use cases.
“Profiles like security analyst, incident report analyst, cloud and IoT security experts are going to see an increase in demand as telcos roll out 5G as they push enterprise use cases,” said Kartik Narayan, chief executive-staffing, TeamLease Services.

“Profiles like security analyst, incident report analyst, cloud and IoT security experts are going to see an increase in demand as telcos roll out 5G as they push enterprise use cases,” said Kartik Narayan, chief executive-staffing, TeamLease Services.

Indian mobile phone operators are expected to at least double their investments on network security with the 5G roll out expected to spark a surge in network vulnerabilities, which assume critical importance especially for enterprises.

However, it is already proving to be a challenge for telcos to have robust security teams.

“Even if we do not talk about 5G (specifically), the security talent in general in the country is very sparse at the moment. We need to get more (security) pro

“Even if we do not talk about 5G (specifically), the security talent in general in the country is very sparse at the moment. We need to get more (security) professionals in the system,” Brijesh Datta, executive vice president & CISO at Reliance Jio, said recently.

The Data Security Council of India has forecast that the cybersecurity ecosystem will expand up to a point where nearly one million professionals will be required by 2025. Additionally, the demand for cloud security skills i ..

An extensive exercise in reskilling and/or upskilling the existing workforce, believe staffing experts, is one of the ways that telcos can future proof their workforce in this regard.

“Bridging this gap will take diligent upskilling and reskilling endeavours from employers as well as government bodies. To prepare for the 5G technology, several telecom companies have initiated in-house training programmes to upskill their workers,” added Sachin Alug,chief executive, NLB Services, a staffin ..

Bharti Airtel, for example, has been preparing for 5G roll out by upskilling its professionals and offering them certification courses such as CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) and CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional). The courses are offered based on skill and eligibility level free of cost

Vodafone Idea did not respond to queries sent by ET at press time.

Secuneus Tech

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