What are the most common IT security skills gaps in organizations?

To begin with, being passionate about any profession is crucial. Many people simply follow market trends and join a job for the sake of it. However, when they actually step into the field, they often start losing interest. Next, people are not given attention to uplift them. They lose interest after doing the same thing repeatedly for years. They are neither provided with proper guidance nor any additional roles assigned to them. I think C-level and senior management should engage with individuals at all levels within the department periodically, rather than interacting with only a few individuals. They should seek feedback and assess their skills.

It seems that IT security skills gaps are more volatile than ever, mainly due to the fact that the tech environment and the business cases around these are changing in an increasing pace. I would distinguish the gaps into two parts: The Hard Skills, including Cybersecurity Judgement, Compliance/Regulatory Knowledge, Leading Edge Technologies (e.g. AI, Data Analytics) Risk Management and the Soft Skills, that include empathy, communication, minimum effective mindset and adaptability. Bridging these gaps for any professional, would obviously reduce risks, but also increase productivity and sustainability of business.

A concerning issue is the lack of cybersecurity fundamentals among IT staff and users. Without this knowledge, they may inadvertently violate security policies, leading to compliance breaches and regulatory penalties. Organizations must prioritize training and awareness programs to mitigate this risk and maintain compliance.

Cloud Environments give us a great advantage in terms of scalability and mainly implementing microservices structures, so the permission level must be looked at with the utmost attention, cloud architects often think about facilitating access and they give privileged access to many groups and people within an organization, making the attack surface very large, making each cloud user a possible High-Value Target, which is why implement Threat Modeling solutions, Security requirements for cloud architecture, tools such as CIEM, CSPM, KSPM, CNAPP, among others are very important.

While the IT staff's role is crucial, selecting a trustworthy cloud service provider is equally significant. To identify a reliable service provider, it is essential to examine the certifications they possess, such as ISO27001, HITRUST, and SOC2 Type2. Beyond just certifications, it's vital to assess the scope of the audit associated with these certifications. In summary, even if a cloud service provider holds certifications, an audit report is indispensable for evaluating the maturity of their information security controls.

It's natural to look at a cloud environment and explore how you would do the thing you've always done on-premises, but in the cloud. This is the wrong approach, Instead, explore both the new security capabilities that the cloud can offer, as well as the new attack points for your cloud or cloud-connected resources.

Threat intelligence is very important, but only if it is implemented the right way in an organization. Only an integrated approach to threat intelligence that looks at geopolitical, political, economic, security, and cyber threats, and their interconnection, is the right approach for medium and large organizations that work internationally. Also, it is very important to have an inclusive threat intelligence program, that spans throughout the organization, of course with special attention to IT staff. Threat intelligence should support all other efforts that the company implements to manage risks (awareness programs, enterprise risk management, incident management, physical security, business continuity, etc.)

Effective utilization of threat intelligence is vital, provided it is applied appropriately within an organization. The correct approach for medium and large international organizations involves an integrated perspective on threat intelligence that encompasses geopolitical, political, economic, security, and cyber threats, while recognizing their interconnected nature. Furthermore, it's essential to establish a comprehensive threat intelligence program that spans the entire organization, with specific emphasis on the IT staff. This program should complement and reinforce all other risk management initiatives, including awareness programs, enterprise risk management, incident management, physical security, and business continuity efforts.

Threat intelligence still refers to collecting IP/Domain from OSINT and use to block in perimeter. We are not bothered about the context, intention behind those attempts, attacks. Root cause for scanning, phishing attacks, that is where TI skills comes handy. Leaders should set a objective for TI and scope. as proactive approach should define threat models, target threat actors and start building the threat database and even before that understand the business and its criticality. Physical and online dangers from adversaries, this will help. Try to build predective threat intelligence based on data collected. Build more preventive and detective controls in tools and process. Divide Tactical, Strategic and operational intelligence

Within the cybersecurity business, one of the biggest concerns is the talent gap in security automation which is crucial in managing the increasing volume and complexity of cyber threats. Some of the major reasons for this include but not limited to: - Rapid Advancements in Technology: Cybersecurity is constantly evolving, with new attack methods and dangers emerging. Organizations face challenges in keeping up with the latest security automation tools, exacerbated by limited education and training resources. - Knowledge gaps due to inadequate training and development, usually a result of limited training budget. Also, many training programs do not adequately cover security automation concepts.

In the realm of cybersecurity, a prominent issue is the shortage of skilled professionals proficient in security automation, a critical aspect in handling the growing scale and intricacy of cyber threats. Some of the primary contributing factors to this problem encompass, but are not confined to: - Swift Technological Advancements: The ever-evolving nature of cybersecurity introduces new attack techniques and threats regularly. Organizations grapple with staying abreast of the latest security automation tools, a challenge exacerbated by the scarcity of educational and training resources. - Knowledge Gaps Arising from Insufficient Training and Development.

Automation is taking place into operations in hefty ways. We are eliminating manual tasks and replacing with playbooks into SOAR, SIEM. We can maintain KPI in proper way mainly MTTR / MTTD. Orgnisation mindset, capabilities, skills and resource are few road blocker in acheiving automation. My opinion for automation is that we acutally need to integrate in platform out of box like DIY, so to increase the acceptibility and remove complexity. and thereafter focus on niche skills, technologies (AI/ML dangers)

Having empathy is crucial in IT security. While it may be easy for a security analyst like me to spot a phishing email, it may not be as easy for someone who does not operate in a security or even an IT role. It is important to be non-judgmental and understanding to foster a healthy working environment where information security matters can be shared and discussed without difficulties.

I have seen in my tenure with my teams, one can be incredible talented in terms of tech skills, but very poor in presenting his own work to a larger audience, needless to say this is very common, to address this i would like to focus on: 1. Identify the weak pole and provide more and more oppurtunity to nourish (debate, internal team presentation, document writing etc) 2. Provide more oppurtunity to participate and lead in inter team connection to create visibility, exposure and trust 3. Further, regular connect with IT and Security team to better colloboration, understanding priorities.

I would like to highlight three points in this category 1. Understanding business objectives why an organization exists, what key objectives they want to achieve, and on top how IT security/Cyber security can support achieving this 2. Articulate how security risks would create impact on achieving the objectives 3. Develop necessary technical skills to implement the right (not the best) for organizations. Also organizations must support employees to excel and grow.

The biggest skills gap is experience. Why? Because the hiring manager is looking for experienced people. Got 2 years under your belt? Great your hired. Just got out of college with a degree in Cybersecurity? Sorry, you do not have experience. Hiring managers need to take the leap of faith and hire that the new person. Take the chance. You may just find your next cybersecurity rock star.

The most common gap is in the implementation of IT Security solutions & inability to use logic/common sense as we are so focused in situations or lack organisational constructs that we don't see the obvious. One must have deep understanding of technology, risk management, and business operations. A combination of these skills will allow you to not only protect the technical aspects but also align security measures with the company's strategic goals, ensuring an effective cybersecurity posture. Cybersecurity doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's important that professionals understand the needs & objectives of the business they are protecting. Knowledge of infrastructure security, Network, Cryptography, Cloud, IAM & Software development is a must.

The ability to set up and organize security processes. Security tools are implemented without building proper processes to optimize the use of those tools.