Professional and workforce development a priority for cybersecurity industry
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Dec 2016
Cybersecurity could not exist without these frameworks – a risk management framework to prioritise risk, an auditing framework for ensuring the right cybersecurity controls are in place and a governance of enterprise IT framework for an organisation’s digital agenda, said Mr Christos K Dimitriadis, Chair of ISACA, the global association which helps professionals around the globe realise the positive potential of technology in an evolving digital world. He was delivering the opening address of the inaugural CSX 2016 Asia Pacific conference held in Singapore last month.
Difficulty to find people with cybersecurity capabilities
Mr Dimitriadis highlighted that one of the current key challenges in the field, is meeting workforce needs, such as professional development, new tools and methodologies.
According to the latest State of Cybersecurity survey jointly conducted by ISACA and security firm RSA, 75% of security professionals are confident in their team’s ability to resolve simple cybersecurity incidents. This is down 12% from the previous year. He said there are also hiring difficulties, with one in four employers taking over six months to find a candidate with suitable cybersecurity capabilities.
Being “smart” requires more work to be “safe”
Mr Teo Chin Hock, Deputy Chief Executive of Singapore’s national Cyber Security Agency (CSA), noted that according to PwC, cyber incidents have been growing at a compound annual growth rate of 45% from 2010-2015. In addition their targets had widened to include SMEs, and the costs of these attacks had increased six-fold from US$500 billion to US$3 trillion this year.
Singapore’s desire to become a “smart” and pervasively-connected nation had raised the ante for attack and defence against cyber threats. Thus, “cybersecurity needs to be an important consideration in the design of connected devices and Internet of Things (IoT),” he said.