Challenge accepted: Addressing the ongoing cybersecurity skills gap

The findings in the Fortinet 2023 Cybersecurity Skills Gap Global Research Report clearly show that organizations are fighting an uphill battle against cyberthreats — incurring more breaches, in need of skilled professionals, and continuing to battle to find and retain candidates and employees who meet those needs.

Ransomware, malware, phishing, state-sponsored attacks, insider threats, IoT-based intrusions and third-party risks — considering the challenges that cybersecurity teams face in today’s business environment, these skills shortages are significant. Even if you can find a qualified candidate, these folks come at a significant cost. Glassdoor reports that the average US salary for a Junior Cybersecurity Analyst is $94,022.

These are not unknown factors in enterprises of all sizes across the USA today. In fact, executives whose purview includes cybersecurity reported to Fortinet that 68% of them believe they face additional risks because of cybersecurity skills shortages. And more than half indicate they struggle to recruit and retain employees with the skills to close that gap. The report shows that workers with the most sought-after skills are those with expertise in cloud security, cyberthreat intelligence, and malware analysis, while IT cybersecurity leaders find it hardest to hire cloud security, security operations, and network security personnel.

According to the Fortinet study,  64% of North American organizations reported the total cost of breaches at above $1 million, the most of any region, and those same enterprises fear a 25% increase in the number of cyberattacks over the next year.

Get the board on board

The first step to improving your organization's cybersecurity defense stance is to get early buy-in from the board and senior leadership. In the best of all worlds, cybersecurity should be a top-down effort incorporated into an overall risk management strategy.  Executive boards are exhibiting leadership and placing an emphasis firmly on strengthening cybersecurity defense and response. 

The Fortinet study sees strong evidence that this is indeed occurring today, as 93% of respondents indicate their boards are raising cybersecurity questions, while 83% of boards are in favor of hiring more IT security personnel.   The same study reports that, regarding cybersecurity questions, “…scrutiny is greatest (96%) in organizations with 1,000 to 2,499 employees.  85% of boards that govern organizations with 5,000+ employees recommended increasing IT security headcount.”

IT personnel today are saddled with the responsibility of managing legacy networks and the integration of cloud services, which all come with widely varied security features. With limited resources, IT teams can quickly fall behind on policy enforcement, updates and network maintenance as the landscape of applications within their organization grows more complex. The modern enterprise must continue building cybersecurity defense to protect their data and their shareholders, customers, partners and employees alike. 

Managed security and network services help to close the gap

Cybersecurity was, is, and will remain a top concern for enterprise decision-makers due to the expanded attack surface (remote users, apps, devices, websites, network, cloud) and the rise of DDoS ransomware attacks. For the most part, they lack in-house resources and expertise to analyze alerts and act. They can benefit most from managed security services that help them automate protection and governance.

Solutions are available that can significantly simplify IT operations by bringing performance, multiple connectivity choices and security together as a managed service. A team of experts can design and implement a fully- or co-managed service that integrates hardware, management, portal and security with the right connectivity solution, nationwide, backed with 24/7/365 support. By applying a managed infrastructure to reduce the demands and training of local IT talent for security functions, organizations can begin to close the cybersecurity skills gap.

In one recent example, Hsu’s Ginseng Enterprises tightened up cybersecurity with Managed Network Edge, which includes security features provided and fully managed by Spectrum Enterprise personnel. The operations that support the entire enterprise are run on a secure, modern, managed network, and company communications are handled with Spectrum Enterprise Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS).

“Right now, the partnership with Spectrum Enterprise is allowing us to move forward without having to hire more staff. I’m fortunate to have the team that we have here in Wisconsin. They all understand our business, ” says Mike Klemp-North, Director of Operations at Hsu’s Ginseng Enterprises.

Managed or co-managed solutions are preferable to self-managed solutions that may require more attention, ownership and management, as well as integration of disparate equipment and connections. Organizations, however, should avoid managed service providers who don’t integrate security, SD-WAN, or WiFi with network services to deliver a single-partner solution. Service providers also often do not provide the attentive service organizations may require, or even offer a range of connectivity options.

How Spectrum Enterprise can help

Our managed solutions can help IT leaders reduce the burden on their understaffed and overworked teams, and thereby mitigate cybersecurity skills gap challenges. Our solution automatically ensures that your network infrastructure is up-to-date and secure, in accordance with the policies set forth by your organization.

As a security solution, it provides secure remote access, rapid routing and advanced protection without impeding performance. Our network experts, along with our national reach and multiple connectivity options, make us uniquely qualified to be the only networking partner you need to keep your network running efficiently and securely. 

Spectrum Enterprise delivers Enterprise Network Edge over the renowned Fortinet platform. This managed solution delivers complete visibility of security events and threats, network utilization and more through a secure and easy-to-use portal. You can take an active role in managing and controlling the policies of interest and leave the rest to us.

Over 80% of Fortune 500 companies rely on Spectrum Enterprise for technology solutions. Find out more about how Enterprise Network Edge can help you address cybersecurity skills gap issues.