Hungry for security: 12% of companies will create an information security department from scratch – pandemic findings

Hello everyone and everyone involved – Happy Security Specialist Day! On the occasion, we conducted a small study with hh.ru about how difficult it was for the security services this year – no joke, to switch to remote control. Massively. Emergency. Cheerfully! The survey shows that they had to cope with heroic efforts, and colleagues from hh.ru talk about an acute shortage of personnel (read: demand) of information security specialists.

We conducted the survey in September – October 2020, it was attended by the heads and employees of information security departments, industry experts and heads of Russian organizations. Only 800+ people. And here are the findings of the survey:

88% of information security specialists believe that the IT infrastructure has become more vulnerable during a pandemic, while 59% of companies were forced to do without information security specialists at all. This is evidenced by the research “SearchInform”, conducted with the participation of the largest Russian online recruiting platform hh.ru for the Day of the Security Specialist, which is celebrated in Russia on November 12.

Companies are experiencing a shortage of personnel – more than a quarter of the surveyed information security specialists reported that they did not have enough hands during an emergency transfer to a remote location in 2020. 30% were able to hire new employees, another 24% increased their staff at the expense of the personnel reserve. 12% strengthened the team at the expense of resources on the side – outsourcing companies.

Despite the difficulties faced by the companies, 61% of companies do not plan personnel changes in the information security department for 2021: neither an increase in the number of employees, nor a reduction. A quarter of the respondents said that they are planning to expand their staff, 12% of companies have decided to create a division from scratch.

What do we think about the situation:

“The transfer of employees to remote work has led to an increase in the vulnerability of the IT infrastructure. Companies realized that it was necessary to repel not only external attacks, but also to control their own employees from accidental and intentional violations. Our survey showed that companies lack information security specialists. And it is not enough qualified professionals who are able to identify, investigate and prevent information security incidents. Therefore, we predict that the situation will force companies to increasingly resort to outsourcing of information security processes ”, – Lev Matveev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SearchInform.

Colleagues from hh.ru:

“The data obtained in the SearchInform survey confirms that the pandemic and the massive transition to online have greatly influenced the growth in the demand for cybersecurity specialists: 25% of companies have already, under the influence of these circumstances, expanded the staff of such specialists by hiring new employees or transferring from others. divisions. According to hh.ru, the number of vacancies for such specialists in the Russian Federation shows double-digit growth rates: if in 2018 more than 17 thousand vacancies were opened, then in incomplete 2020 (from January to October) there are already almost 30 thousand. CVs of information security specialists are growing even faster: in 2018 there were 18 thousand, in 2019 – 25 thousand, and for incomplete 2020 – already over 55 thousand. The indicator of competition in this area is very low – in 2018-2019. he was at level 1 and only in 2020 he reached level 2 people, which speaks of an acute shortage, ”- Vitaly Terentyev, director of the department of special projects at hh.ru.

Happy Holidays again! And may strength, budgets, health, honor and respect be with you!