83 percent of Cybersecurity Personnel Feel Overworked: Tripwire Survey

Cybersecurity firm Tripwire recently announced the results of its survey that examined how organizations and security pros are experiencing skills gap issues. The survey findings, based on the responses from 342 security professionals, revealed that 83 percent of respondents feel more overworked going into 2020 than they were in 2019. It’s said that 82 percent of security pros felt that their teams were understaffed.

According to the research, 85 percent of them acknowledged that it became more difficult over the past few years to hire skilled cybersecurity professionals. It’s said that only 19 percent of cybersecurity companies provide resources for managing the stress associated with the specific issues of security.  

Other Major Findings

• Most companies (85 percent) believe managed services are a good option for addressing security skills gaps
• Around 46 percent stated that they plan to use more managed services in 2020
• Over 50 percent of respondents said they will invest more in cybersecurity training for its staff
• The survey also highlighted that 40 percent of security pros believe their CISOs are not involved enough in day-to-day operations

Tim Erlin, the Vice President of product management and strategy at Tripwire, said, “It’s getting harder and harder for organizations to fill open positions on their security teams. Larger organizations, which you might assume have more resources, are experiencing the skills gap issue even more acutely than smaller organizations. It’s a challenge to hire the right skill sets – they keep changing along with security, which is always evolving. Nearly all of those we surveyed said the skills required to be a great security professional have changed over the past few years.”

“CISOs should be focusing on high-level strategy, but because their teams are understaffed and have an overwhelming volume of work on their desks, they may have to get involved in daily operations, if they haven’t already. To solve the problems caused by skills gap issues, training and managed services are both good approaches. By partnering with providers, organizations can free themselves from operational work and gain insights that will help inform decisions. And because recruiting and training isn’t always possible, managed services provide businesses a way to augment their teams,” Erlin added.