Running Head: CYBER SECURITY WORK FORCE CRISIS 1

Cyber Security Workforce Crisis

Name

Institution

Author Note

Brief information about the author, expression of gratitude to the research assistants,

contact details, etc. (according to the course requirement)

 Running Head: CYBER SECURITY WORK FORCE CRISIS 2

SOLVING THE CYBER SECURITY WORKFORCE CRISIS

Introduction

The inadequate attention to Cyber security is a primary risk internationally and locally to

enterprises and at a personal level. There is a high shortage of cyber security professionals to

alleviate this menace due to inadequate education programs to instill the necessary skills. The

deficit has severe consequences on the high reliance of the cyber security experts in handling any

information that constitutes cyberspace (NASCIO). Cybercrime constitutes the biggest crime in

the US ripping an estimated $ 100 billion every year from innocent people and companies. Also,

there are escalated crimes such as terror attack, data theft, and cyber bullying due to insufficient

experts to oversee data security. Therefore, drastic measures are needed to solve the cyber

security workforce crisis.

Causes of Hiring Difficulties

The State Information Technology department is the department that is mandated to

ensure the effectiveness of service delivery by the government. It also recruits and replaces

workers in the State departments. However, according to a recent (NASCIO, 2019) survey on 48

states, there are hiring obstacles associated with the shortage of cybercrime experts. According to

(NASCIO, 2019) more than 90% of the states indicated that the salary and the pay grade posed a

significant challenge in the process of recruiting new employees and their maintenance in the

job. More than 85% of the states indicated some difficulties in recruitment that had escalated

within a period of four years. 45% of the states reported that filling a job vacancy in the senior

category took approximately three months. From the analysis of the study, it is evident that the

biggest barrier to getting a cyber security expert is the salary, especially in the public sector. The
 Running Head: CYBER SECURITY WORK FORCE CRISIS 3

process is inefficient and length that reduces the number of professional hired at a particulate

time.

Causes of a Shortage of Cyber Security Workforce

The National budget on cyber security and the civil servant is low. Therefore, the salaries

from the private sector are more lucrative compared to those in the public sector. According to

Norris, Joshi, and Finin (2015, June) the budget of the financial year 2014/2015, the yearly

salary on federal cyber security expert was slightly more than $ 75,000 compared to that in

private sector cyber security worker estimated to be $ 94,000. This indicates a salary deviation of

more than $ 20,000. Therefore, the cyber security analyst prefers to work for the private sector.

This is because of better remunerations. This affects the number of workers willing to work for

the public sector and constitutes to the human capital crisis experienced currently in the US

government. Lack of well-defined career path among the staffs creating an obstacle in career

development is another challenge.

The experience gap is rampant in the market as most flesh graduates lack the experience

to handle tasks in the senior categories in the state cyber security department (Bergal, 2019).

This is the major challenge that affects position replacement whenever there is a top position

requiring to be filled. Another challenge is the high loss of senior employee through massive

retirements. More than 20% of the employees holding senior positions in different states have

less than two years to retirement (Vogel, 2016). It creates a significant problem due to the loss of

experience in the information security sector.

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Recommendations for Reducing the Workforce Crisis

The government has an initiative to attract more people in the cyber security profession. It is the

only solution to curb the problem of human capital shortages in this critical sector of the

government. Military veterans training is one of the first initiatives the government can take

(NICCS, 2019). The retired security personnel can have an opportunity to continue serving the

country through training to become cyber security experts. It can be done through promising a

handsome remuneration strategy through massive public relation campaigns Baker, (2016).

Secondly, revamping the internship programs is a source of new staff, the government

and the State IT departments should ensure most of the interning students are given actual

assignments during the period of their learning to instill hands-on experience on the real job.

This can be a productive program that will ensure retaining most of the students as an employee

on a merit basis (Bergal, 2019). Also, encouraging new employees to register for advanced

learning to acquire additional expertise in the cyber security field is essential. It will create a

smooth transition from being a junior employee to the senior category. The strategy is aimed at

reducing the hurdles experienced when there is a need to fill a gap in the senior class in case of

retirement or resignation.

Digital advertising can create widespread social awareness of the availability of

vacancies in the cyber security field; it should be done to attract more experts to apply on the

available jobs. It will reduce the time taken to fill the job gaps in the career due to availability of

a pool of qualified applicants. The advertisement can involve the use of social media such as

Facebook, Instagram or Twitter where it can easily reach many job seekers with the required

qualifications (Bergal, 2019). Giving performance awards when an employee has outstanding
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performance is a strategy that will enhance the cyber security analysts to feel motivated to do

their best in serving the public. It will also ensure a high retention ratio of the hired employees at

a given time. A positive job branding is also essential in providing a positive outlook of the

occupation. It will attract more cyber security talents that had a negative perception of the job

terming it as a boring career.

According to FOLEY (2015), “offering flexible job schedules is an integral strategy of

improving the number of qualified cyber security analyst” (P.136). The strategy will provide the

workers with ample time for attending classes and improve their training to attain specificity in a

given field of work. It is crucial as it will enhance talents in the cyber security department.

Lastly, availing signing bonuses is critical in encouraging the workers on contractual basis to

sign contracts to continue working in the public offices.

Conclusion

The challenge of cyber security human capital crisis is dominant in all the states creating

a significant threat to the state sensitive data, economy, security, and culture of people. The

solution to the crisis lies with the government through initiating recommended programs to train,

market, and to hire more cyber security analysts. Thirdly, the government has to check on the

budget allocated to State IT department to improve salary remuneration of public workers to

reduce competition for IT experts with the private sectors. Lastly, promoting an awareness

campaign to the citizens on the importance of a cyber security analyst in defending the country

through proper data handling will change the mind of many and encourage them to apply for the

jobs.
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References

Baker, M. (2016). Striving for effective cyber workforce development. Software Engineering

Institute, May. https://resources. Sei. Cmu. edu/library/asset-view. cfm.

Bergal, J. (2019). Hiring Cybersecurity Staff Is Hard for States. Retrieved from

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2015/5/11/hiring-

cybersecurity-staff-is-hard-for-states

FOLEY, K. (2015). Future Directions for Educating a Cybersecurity Workforce. Protecting Our

Future, Volume 2: Educating a Cybersecurity Workforce, 3.

Norris, D., Joshi, A., & Finin, T. (2015, June). Cybersecurity challenges to American state and

local governments. In 15th European Conference on eGovernment (pp. 196-202).

Academic Conferences and Publishing Int. Ltd.

NASCIO.(2019). State Work Force: Under Pressure. Retrieved from

https://www.nascio.org/Portals/0/Publications/Documents/NASCIO_ITWorkforce_Under

Pressure.pdf

NICCS. (2019). Cyber Security Training and Education for Veterans. Retrieved from

https://niccs.us-

cert.gov/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/dhs_cea_cybersecurity_veterans_toolkit.pdf?tra

ckDocs=dhs_cea_cybersecurity_veterans_toolkit.pdf

Vogel, R. (2016). Closing the cybersecurity skills gap. Salus Journal, 4(2), 32.