Security - Channel Insider
Empowering the next generation Channel

The State of the Security Workforce 2011

By Ericka Chickowski on 2011-04-01



IT security still suffers from a major skills gap and still resists new trends in technology that have already won the hearts and minds of business users, such as social media and cloud computing, according to the analysts at Frost & Sullivan and security professional group (ISC)2. The organizations recently conducted a broad survey on the state of the security workforce. "The information security profession could be on a dangerous course, where information security professionals are engulfed in their current job duties and responsibilities, leaving them ill-prepared for the major changes ahead, and potentially endangering the organizations they secure," wrote Rob Ayoub, author of the survey report. At the same time, the firm says that management support and end-user training is improving at most organizations and security's strong spending trends will continue on in the next year. Here's a look at the state of the IT security workforce.
  • of
As of 2010, Frost & Sullivan estimates that there are 2.28 million information security professionals worldwide. This figure is expected to increase to nearly 4.2 million by 2015.

Three out of five security professionals said they got a raise in 2010.

The survey found that the average worldwide salary for (ISC)2 members was $98,600 and for non-members was $78,500 when both had about five years of experience.

The survey showed that 34 percent of organizations plan to increase spending on personnel in 2011 and 37 percent plan to increase hardware and software expenditures.

The budgets aren't increasing as steadily for services. Only 25 percent of organizations have more budget for professional services and 28 percent for outsourced or managed services in 2011.

About a third of organizations plan to increase spending for training and certifications this year.

60 percent of security professionals plan to add new certifications to their resumes in the next year.

89 percent of professionals view certifications as very important to somewhat important to employers.

Application vulnerabilities represent the number one threat to organizations.

41 percent of respondents reported that organizations need to better train infosec staff to handle application security.

More than 20 percent of information security professionals reported involvement in software development.

Mobile devices were the second highest security concern for the organization, right behind application vulnerabilities.

Slightly under a third of respondents said they have no policies set to protect the organization from social media threats.

More than 50 percent of information security professionals reported having private clouds in place, and more than 40 percent of respondents reported using software as a service.

At the same time, more than 70 percent of professionals reported the need for new skills to properly secure cloud-based technologies.

85 percent of respondents reported they were worried about exposure of confidential or sensitive information to unauthorized systems or personnel due to cloud computing.

  • More slideshows

  
CHANNEL RESOURCE CENTER
 
 
 

Intel Technology Provider Program
Intel Technology Provider Program (ITP) helps resellers better understand Intel products which power the technology they sell, and enables value-add services such as remote manageability or anti-theft tracking.
Learn More
 
WindowsForDevices.com
WindowsForDevices.com is the comprehensive news site covering Windows embedded technologies. Visitors get news, technical white papers, opinion columns and extensive directories covering the products and companies in the marketplace.
Click Here
 
Check out our top five picks for technologies that will change the game in enterprise computing.
Learn MoreClick Here