Why Gender Diversity Is Imperative to Cybersecurity Success

Why Gender Diversity Is Imperative to Cybersecurity Success
Fotolia

According to new research from Forrester, the cybersecurity industry is facing a skills shortage that comes along with a massive gender bias, and it is in desperate need of a change.

Despite its urgent and ever-growing importance, the industry is projected to have 1.8 million unfilled jobs globally by 2022. Meanwhile, women represent just 11% of cybersecurity professionals worldwide. Additionally, Forrester found that security decision makers point to lack of staff (25%) and the unavailability of security employees with the right skills (22%) as major IT security challenges for their firm.

If the industry is to fill the millions of open positions in the cybersecurity industry, chief information security officers (CISOs) will need to actively recruit, retain, and promote women to address their staff and skill shortage. The report highlights best practices to diversify the cybersecurity workforce and help close the skill and gender gaps.