Skills shortage directly tied to financial loss in data breaches


The cybersecurity skills gap continues to widen, with serious consequences for organizations worldwide. According to IBM’s 2024 Cost Of A Data Breach Report, more than half of breached organizations now face severe security staffing shortages, a whopping 26.2% increase from the previous year.


And that’s expensive. This skills deficit adds an average of $1.76 million in additional breach costs.


The shortage spans both technical cybersecurity skills and adjacent competencies. Cloud security, threat intelligence analysis and incident response capabilities are in high demand. Equally crucial are skills in data analysis, risk management and compliance expertise.


Critical skills in short supply


According to cybersecurity experts, an incident response specialist is one of the most critical roles for reducing breach impacts. The IBM reports from 2020 and 2022 make it clear that the ability to quickly detect, contain and mitigate breaches can radically reduce costs, and this is still true today.


While a well-rounded security team with diverse skills remains the ideal scenario for most organizations, it remains elusive for many.


Cloud security expertise is also increasingly prized as more organizations migrate data to the cloud.


Strong coding skills for secure development and automation are also in short supply. Proficiency in security information and event management (SIEM) tools and threat-hunting techniques can significantly improve detection and response times.


While techn ..

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