(ISC)²
Overview: At organizations large and small, cybersecurity professionals have been thrown into an unprecedented storm this year, facing some of the toughest challenges of their careers. Despite an ongoing shortage of qualified cybersecurity personnel across public and private sectors, these professionals have been largely successful in overcoming new challenges and protecting their organizations.
This report explores the results of the 2020 (ISC)² Cybersecurity Workforce Study. Our survey collected data from 3,790 security professionals at all levels, drawn from small, medium and large organizations throughout North America, Europe, Latin America (LATAM) and the Asia-Pacific region (APAC). This year the survey was fielded in late April 2020 through mid-June. The findings are unique in that they capture the mood and environment of the cybersecurity workforce in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study reveals the significant impact COVID-19 has had on cybersecurity professionals and the challenges many of them had to overcome.
Beyond how cybersecurity professionals have fared during COVID-19, this year’s study also provides an update to two very critical components of defining the industry’s skills shortage—the Cybersecurity Workforce Gap and Cybersecurity Workforce Estimate. Each metric has a critical role to play in informing best practices and policies to encouragegrowth of the workforce and define success metrics. This is the second consecutive year we have produced a Cybersecurity Workforce Estimate, and our data suggests that the global cybersecurity workforce needs to grow 89% to effectively defend organizations’ critical assets.
