Slightly more than half of the companies surveyed said they plan to hire information security staff this year.
The findings of a new survey
revealed growing salaries and low unemployment among information security
professionals. Nearly 70 percent of information security professionals polled
reported a salary increase and 55 percent are expecting to receive an increase
in 2012, according to the results of the 2012 Career Impact Survey, released
today by (ISC)², the information security professional body and administrators
of the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). Moreover, just
7 percent of information security professionals said they were unemployed at
any point during 2011.
Of the respondents, 72
percent said that in 2011, their organization hired individuals specifically
for information security roles. Additionally, 62 percent of respondents
reported they are looking to hire additional permanent or contract information
security employees in 2012.
Among those hiring, 81
percent said an understanding of information security concepts is an important
factor in their hiring decisions. Other top factors included directly related
experience (72 percent) and technical skills (76 percent). Additionally, hiring
managers identified the top skills they are looking for, including operations
security (55 percent), security management practices (52 percent), access
control systems/methodology (51 percent), security architecture/models (50
percent), risk management (49 percent), telecom/network security (45 percent),
applications/system development security (44 percent) and cloud/virtualization (35
percent).
These results demonstrate
that even in tough economic times, information security professionals are in
high demand by hiring managers and organizations who understand that their
skill sets are not only paramount to their organizations ability to conduct
business but also give them a competitive advantage, said W. Hord Tipton,
executive director of (ISC)². This data reflects the increase in security
breaches we saw throughout 2011 and the fact that organizations, both in the
public and private sector, are finally realizing the importance of implementing
sound security programs that should be run by experienced and qualified
professionals.
The survey also found
roughly 34 percent reported an increase in new hires last year, and 51 percent
plan to hire information security staff this year. Of those, 62 percent plan to
hire one to two people, and 22 percent plan to hire three to four. More than a
quarter (27 percent) of respondents said they saw an increase in layoffs in
this field, and around 30 percent of respondents expect information security
budgets and equipment purchases to increase in 2012. In addition, 56 percent of
those surveyed reported increased security risks in 2011, with 38 percent
attributing most of that activity to mobile devices.
Security is an
ever-changing field that requires professionals to expand constantly upon their
knowledge of todays advanced threats. Just as importantly, this field also
calls for hands-on experience and the business know-how to implement robust security
practices across an organization, Tipton added. While its a very positive
sign that this field continues to grow and is somewhat recession-proof, one
of the biggest challenges that remains is finding enough of the right people
with the appropriate security skills to fill the huge void that exists right
now. We must continue to build this workforce at an aggressive pace.
About the Study
The results from (ISC)²,
which has more than 80,000 members in more than 135 countries, are from its
third survey tracking the impact of the economic climate on cyber-security
salaries, hiring outlook, budgets, threats and more.
The survey was conducted
from December 2011 to January 2012, with 2,256 respondents globally to gain
insights into how economic conditions and security threats affected the
information security profession in 2011 and to gauge the 2012 outlook. The most
common sectors represented were government, at 28.9 percent; information
technology, at 28.5 percent; professional services, at 18.2 percent; banking,
at 11.3 percent; and telecommunications, at 9.9 percent. The majority of respondents
organizations had more than 1,000 employees.
Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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