Is there really an information security jobs crisis?
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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.
As I wrote last year in The Continued Fallacy Of The Information Security Skill Shortage, much of the so-called shortage has to do with firms that won’t pay market rates for information security professionals. They create job listings with significant information security requirements, but offer salaries that are not much higher than entry-level salaries.
Where is the real security jobs shortage?
Lee Kushner is someone who has his pulse on the information security job market. As someone who has been doing information security recruitment for close to 30 years, he has seen the ups and downs, recessions, dot com hype, and much more. One is hard-pressed to find a more experienced and qualified information security recruiter as Kushner.
He placed me in an information security role at E&Y, and countless security professionals owe their jobs to him. His recruitment firm LJ Kushner and Associates was the premier information security recruitment firm until it was…
