Australia needs cyber security professionals!

We’ve said it before and we will say it again – Australia still needs more Cyber Security professionals!

With the constant stream of articles about cyber security (and lately the veritable flood on the topic of AI) you could easily be lulled into thinking that demand for cyber security roles is decreasing, or has at least stabilised.

The reality is that a number of factors are coalescing and continuing to create a strong demand for skilled cyber professionals.

A recent report (August this year) from StickmanCyber – Australia’s Cybersecurity & Technical Skills Gap – has found that the cyber industry in Australia is actually smaller than we need and that this small size has had a direct impact on the number and severity of cyber attacks that have occurred in recent years.

When you look at the actual number of technical specialists – 11,387 –that’s only 3% of the IT workforce and equals only one specialist for every 240 Australian organisations. That means that often specialist security work is done by IT generalists, or not at all. Even worse, the industry is dangerously dependent on overseas born staff (51%) and overwhelmingly male ( 84%). With the current high level debates on educational and skilled migration continuing there is a real risk that our cyber workforce will fall proportionally further behind.

As a result cyber specialists report being “overworked and stressed” and this fatigue has contributed to one in five data breaches. Other important trends picked up in the latest ISACA State of Cybersecurity report are:

• The workforce is aging with consequent opportunities being available for younger entrants increasing.
• Retention rates have improved but are still lower than desirable with over 64% of our region’s organisations reporting difficulty in finding appropriate staff.
• Demand for new staff is still strong with 46% of organisations reporting open non-entry level  and 18% entry level cyber roles.
• Demand for cyber security managers and senior management remains very high as does demand for technical individual contributors ( which is where future hiring demand is mainly concentrated).
• 59% of cyber roles require a university qualification.
• And yet only 27% of respondents agreed that university grads are well prepared for their roles.

In general terms, the nature of cyber threats is both growing and becoming more complex  with a combination of private and government actors attacking all sorts of sensitive data for financial and political gain. The Australian government’s 2023-2030 Cyber Security Strategy makes cyber security a national priority and promises to direct more funding into detecting and defeating threats, educating cyber professionals and information sharing. The increasing use of cloud based networks for operational and IoT purposes highlights the need for security to be a base requirement in any new IT project, and AI/ML based cyber is a rapidly growing sector.

Overall, the picture that is painted is this: Australia continues to need more skilled cyber specialists, they need to be university trained and that university education must be aligned with industry requirements (for example: being taught by industry-based mentors). If cyber security is one of your career options, you can be sure that there are and will continue to be a good selection of roles available.

In today’s fast-paced tech industry, staying ahead requires more than just experience—it demands continuous learning and up-to-date qualifications. A postgraduate degree can set you apart by providing deep, specialised knowledge that aligns with industry demands and emerging technologies. If you’re ready to take the next step in your IT career, why not find out if you’re eligible to enrol in one of our postgraduate courses? Simply fill in our eligibility form on the IT Masters website to see how we can help you unlock new opportunities and achieve your professional goals. Don’t miss out on the chance to future-proof your career—start your journey today!