CYBER SECURITY SPECIAL REPORT
Increasing digital transformation and cyber attacks have hiked demand for highly skilled tech workers, adding pressure to the challenge to train and re-skill.
Industry and academia have launched programs to train cyber professionals to enable vital industry growth, amid estimates of cyber security staff shortfalls ranging from 7000 to 30,000 workers by mid-decade.
A report from CyberCX and PerCapita released last month noted just five applicants for each position, with only one in four holding the required skills.
Dean of the School of Computing Technologies at RMIT University, Professor Karin Verspoor, said skills shortages were the biggest challenge facing the technology sector.
“These are not specific to the cyber security space, it’s a reflection of the broader tech sector,” she said.
“We have to be very creative about how we approach that. If we just follow the same strategies that we have been using for the last decades, we’re clearly not going to meet those requirements.”
She pointed to the recent Tech Council of Australia report that called for a doubling of the sector overall to achieve the shared goal of the Australian government and industry of 1.2 million tech jobs by 2030.
Likewise, the National Skills Commission identified cyber security as the leading in-demand digital skill referenced in job advertisements in its State of Australia’s Skills report.
Multiple industry reports have identified the current growth in education courses – which AustCyber reported could quadruple by 2026 to 2000 graduates a year – as inadequate to meet the medium-term demand.
The issue is not just an Australian one.
The US last year established the Office of the National Cyber Director to oversee efforts to overcome workforce shortages at scale, given their estimated shortfall of 700,000 workers.
Verspoor says the range of roles required in cyber security is diverse – not just technical – including a strong focus on human behaviour.
“It’s about building an ecosystem of tools and approaches and behavioural strategies that together protect us, without having a complete reliance just on the technology alone,” she says.
Australian cyber security consultancy CyberCX released its Upskilling and Expanding the Australian Cyber Security Workforce research report last month, which found a shortfall of 30,000 unfilled positions in cyber security over the next four years.
The company has sought to overcome the shortfall in cyber security professionals with its own training program.
CyberCX Academy director Rosemary Driscoll says shortages are a major concern.
“It’s a concern in terms of national security, but I also see it as a positive challenge to do things a bit differently,” Driscoll says.
“With great challenge comes great opportunity.”
The CyberCX Academy is a six-month paid, full-time program to recruit and train entry-level cyber security professionals with the goal of training 500 new workers within three years. Training includes cloud security to digital forensics and penetration testing.
“The aim is not just to recruit and train people for our company but to raise the tide of cyber security in Australia,” she said.
UTS course director for Cyber Security, Dr Priyadarsi Nanda, says interest in cyber security is growing alongside its critical role.
“The trend in cyber security has skyrocketed,” Nanda says. “With critical information transmitted across the internet, the security part has become very important.”
He says it was heartening to see a huge turnout for cyber security courses at a recent open day. An original plan for a single presentation had to be revised to run three times.
Part of the cyber security course offering, he says, is collaboration with industry through advisory boards.
“Cyber security is moving very fast,” he says.
“We have a very strong advisory body and we consult not only with the specific technology industry but people from consulting (and) critical industries. They have a lot of thoughts on how to meet the needs of the future.”
Deakin University head of the School of IT, Professor John Yearwood, says since it became the first Victorian higher education provider to offer a full three-year bachelor course in cyber security in 2007, the university has revised its program to focus on emerging trends in the fast-moving environment.
“Deakin has constructed a state-of-the-art cyber training lab for our students and redesigned the bachelor and master’s degrees around the use of this lab,” he says.
“The lab has been constructed to allow students to safely practice attack and defence, examine malware and viruses, and access emerging technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
“This has been combined with a complete redevelopment of the more theoretical parts of the degree, such as cryptography and mathematics, to ensure that students continue to gain a complete understanding of how theory informs the practice of cyber security.”
Collaborations between industry and education institutions are ramping up their capacity to increase Australia’s trained cyber defenders.
Following cyber security jobs growth of more than 20 per cent from 2017 to 2020, companies are developing programs alongside traditional education providers to expand the talent pool as a matter of urgency.
One of the key targets for increased participation is women, who currently make up just one in five of the cyber security workforce.
Verspoor says there is an eagerness to collaborate on education and training.
“There is a lot of material and willingness out there on behalf of the companies,” she says.
A key initiative between RMIT and accounting-software provider MYOB is the female-focused DevelopHer program.
The six-month full scholarship provides an introduction to programming, with mentors and a guaranteed job at completion.
“They’re making a substantial investment in that program,” Verspoor says.
“If we look at that as a model and start thinking about ways to attract that cohort of students in the mix, eventually we will achieve the bigger goals.”
She says raising the number of women involved in cyber security is important in overcoming the skills shortage.
“There is no way we are going to reach the numbers we need, without bringing women into the mix,” Verspoor says.
“If we do not do this, we will not reach the levels we need for economic productivity.”
Another initiative is The Apple Foundation Program, a one-month course to develop and design apps operated through RMIT University and the University of Technology Sydney.
Microsoft has also partnered with AustCyber to deliver the Cyber Security Traineeship Program, aiming to gain 200 participants over two years.