Is there really an information security jobs crisis?

Ben Rothke
6 min readSep 12, 2023
https://endgamepr.com/

In April, Cybersecurity Ventures reported that there will be 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs in 2025. Their research shows that global cybersecurity job vacancies grew by 350%, from one million openings in 2013 to 3.5 million in 2021. The number of unfilled jobs leveled off in 2022, and remains at 3.5 million in 2023, with more than 750,000 of those positions in the U.S.

As to the predictions from Cybersecurity Ventures, it’s my experience that, and in speaking with other information security professionals, their figures are highly exaggerated. It’s not just my opinion. I’ll show here how other information security professionals feel the same way.

This has led in part, to the situation where information security boot camps and other quick fixes have been created to give people the impression that they are but a few months away from a high-paying job in information security.

I get, as do many of my information security friends and colleagues, at least one call a week from a parent, student, or IT professional asking how they can get into information security. They hear, often on news radio or general media, that there are countless opportunities in the highly lucrative field of information security.

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Ben Rothke

I work in information security at Tapad. Write book reviews for the RSA blog, & a Founding member of the Cloud Security Alliance and Cybersecurity Canon.