SASIG and UK Cyber Security Council tackle sector skills shortage

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport recently revealed that employment across the cyber security industry rose by 13% during 2021, with more than 6,000 new jobs created, in turn opening up a raft of opportunities for individuals up and down the UK. This growth has witnessed the total number of people working in cyber in the UK rise to 52,700.

The SASIG Cyber Security Skills Festival attracted more than 600 delegates and featured an entire day of presentations and workshops. The jobs fair ran alongside the main event and hosted 37 organisations from all sectors, among them 73 UK universities and public bodies. The day engendered 865 conversations and realised 4,618 chat messages.

Delegates learned about building a successful career from both seasoned professionals and recent graduates. In addition, over 1,000 job applications were submitted at the jobs fair and helped fill vacancies being advertised by firms hungry to find new talent.  

Martin Smith MBE, founder and chairman of SASIG (and who began his cyber security career with the Royal Air Force back in 1981), has reiterated the fact that the Cyber Security Skills Festival’s key objective was to boost the profile of cyber security as a rewarding career and attract new entrants.

Smith explained: “Cyber security is every bit as much a ‘people’ business as it is one necessarily focused on technology. It embraces management, people and technical skills and, as demand grows, there are huge opportunities. This year, we made a strategic move to reach out beyond our traditional cyber security community and seek to attract new entrants from all areas. Whether you’re a historian, a musician or an engineer, there are opportunities at all levels. We want to help our community bridge the skills gap.”

Plugging the skills gap  

Simon Hepburn, CEO of the UK Cyber Security Council, added: “Ensuring that we have as many highly skilled cyber professionals as possible is vital if the UK is to become one of the safest places in which to work and live online. To achieve on that ambition, we’ll need to plug the skills gap across the sector, which is estimated to number a shortfall of circa 10,000 individuals. We were delighted to partner with SASIG on the Cyber Security Skills Festival and contribute in some small way towards that goal. Based on the number of job applications alone, it’s evident just how impactful the event was in raising awareness of cyber security as an attractive and rewarding career path.”

Laura Price, employer brand specialist at BT, explained: “With such a skills shortage in the cyber security industry, it’s a challenge to reach new and diverse pools of talent. The Cyber Security Skills Festival has allowed BT to engage with hundreds of bright students and graduates interested in finding out more about careers in the security space.”

*The next SASIG Cyber Security Skills Festival, which is free to attend for both delegates and employers, will be held in October this year. Further information is available online at www.thesasig.com/skills-festival/