61% of cyber security businesses have issues recruiting staff

A new survey has found that 61% of cyber security businesses have had personnel-related issues when it comes to recruiting staff.

According to the report from Cyber Ireland and Cyber Skills, the problems encountered include a lack of candidates in the labour market with the appropriate skill level, competition from other cyber security businesses, a lack of non-technical skills and unaffordable salaries.

The 'State of the Cyber Security Sector in Ireland' report found that 83% of businesses surveyed expect their cyber security teams to grow over the next twelve months.

Tomorrow will be the first anniversary of the Health Service Executive cyber attack and the HSE has said it is 'especially difficult' to recruit cyber security staff right now because of the competition for talent.

Today's cyber security report was launched by the Minister of State with responsibility for the sector Ossian Smyth.

"There have been several significant cyber security incidents in the past number of years, including the incident affecting the HSE in May of last year," Mr Smith said.

"These findings will be key in developing our ambitious targets to support future growth and development of the cyber security sector in the years ahead," he added.

The study found that there is an opportunity to position Ireland as a global leader in cybersecurity and to grow the workforce to over 17,000 by 2030.

"This report shows the size and scale of the cyber security sector, critical to our economy and society, which employs 7,300 professionals and contributes €1.1bn in Gross Value Added (GVA) per annum," said Cluster Manager of Cyber Ireland, Dr Eoin Byrne.

The report highlights that access to training and education is essential in the cyber security industry to ensure demand for skills does not outweigh supply.

"The HEA Cyber Skills initiative aims to address the challenge of talent and skills, by reducing barriers to participation in the industry, upskilling and reskilling professionals making them industry ready upon completion of their courses," said Professor Donna O'Shea, Chair of Cyber security at Munster Technological University.