Does the world have enough cybersecurity workers to combat the growing risk of cyberattacks? No…we're short over a million. But we can change that.
The global cybersecurity expert shortage has been known since mid-2017. A Global Information Security Workforce Study (GISWS) report surveyed 19,000 cybersecurity professionals and delivered a chilling result.
Global cybersecurity workforce to be short 1.8 million by 2022 - VentureBeat
On June 15, the issue received a wake-up call from Ivanka Trump, who tweeted the same statistic. The globe will need 1.8 million cybersecurity experts by 2022…and it won't have them.
What can we do about that here in the U.S.?
Don't Look to H-1Bs. Use the IT Resources Already Here.
Globalists would argue, "This is why we need more H-1Bs! We must import more cybersecurity experts to meet demand!"
This position is completely illogical. The report says this is a GLOBAL workforce gap.
Cybersecurity is a worldwide problem. Every nation in the world faces the risk of cyberattack. If a country like India or China has cybersecurity experts, and they have the same need to secure their IT…would they send all their cybersecurity experts to another country?
No, of course not! They'd keep those experts home and put them to work. Exactly what they should do!
Where does that leave the U.S. IT workforce? We have 4 years between now and 2022. That's enough time to train as many cybersecurity experts as we need.
We have plenty of candidates right now:
- High school and college students in STEM (568,000 STEM graduates in 2016)
- Unemployed IT workers replaced by H-1Bs
- Older IT workers replaced by younger colleagues
- Underemployed professionals looking for a better opportunity
It's Time to Train American Cybersecurity Experts
Existing education and job placement programs can make this happen. All that's lacking is the decision to do it.
That decision is ours to make. And it needs to happen soon. Stopping cyberattacks is one "wall" we can ALL agree on!
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