Association for information systems

Chapter 5: Industry Perspectives on Cybersecurity
 
The field of cybersecurity is in its formative stages of development and is experiencing 
growing pains as the need for a structured discipline is recognized throughout industry. 
While the field has grown in past decades, defining cybersecurity as a stand-alone 
discipline has been frequently discounted or overlooked as a critical success factor for 
developing the cadre of professionals needed across government and industry to secure 
their systems. Today, there is a general consensus that addressing cybersecurity 
challenges must be a priority for nations and businesses alike, and the need for a 
structured discipline is clear. 
While programs to expand the cybersecurity workforce have seen some success, global 
workforce gaps – estimated to reach 1.8 million in 2022 ((
ISC)2, 2017
), are growing
13
. 
Unfortunately, although jobs are and will be available, finding qualified people to fill 
them is often difficult. Students graduating from technical programs such as information 
technology or computer science often lack the specific cybersecurity knowledge and 
skills needed to fit within an industry or government environment. Students graduating 
from non-technical programs often receive only surface level coverage of important 
cybersecurity concepts and thus lack the depth of understanding of cybersecurity 
concepts necessary to apply their knowledge and skill in the operational environment.