3.1M cybersecurity positions vacant around the globe: Report

Bengaluru: Even as thousands of people across the world lost jobs during the pandemic, there are about 3.1 million unfulfilled positions in cybersecurity around the world, with most of them being in the Asia-Pacific region, said a new report.

As a result of the impact of the global pandemic, cybercrime in Asia Pacific went up by 600 per cent, said the report by professional recruitment services firm Michael Page India.

The report, titled "The Humans of Cybersecurity", highlights that 19 million ransomware and phishing attacks were identified in Asia during February-May 2020, with many being coronavirus-themed.

While it is evident that cybersecurity is a growing challenge for businesses around the world, of greater concern is the fact that most businesses do not have adequate cybersecurity practices in place, making them especially vulnerable to attacks.

The cybersecurity field is currently experiencing a 43 per cent talent shortage with skills such as application development security, cloud security risk management, threat intelligence, data privacy and security being most in demand, said the report.

"The demand for roles such as security engineers, cybersecurity analysts and cybersecurity engineers is on the rise," said Varsha Barooah, Director of Michael Page India.

"India is expected to have over 1.5 million unfulfilled job vacancies in cybersecurity by 2025." Asia Pacific's cybersecurity market which was valued at $30.45 billion in 2019, is now expected to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.3 per cent for the period of 2020-2025, said the report.