2024 Salary Guide: Cyber Defence, EMEA
2023 was a challenging time in the cyber hiring market, with many companies pressing pause on personnel decisions amidst a period of economic and geopolitical turmoil. We saw mass layoffs in tech and IT which impinged into cybersecurity and rocked the stability the sector had previously enjoyed. Budget cuts saw the streamlining of both sales and defensive teams at a time when we were seeing an increase in threat activity.
In the wider industry, the last 12 months presented a series of significant shifts, shaped by evolving threats, new technologies and high-profile breaches, raising concerns about the security of essential systems and emphasizing the need for robust defences. Indeed, the cyber security industry is evolving at a startling pace, with new technologies and innovations forging wide-spread changes across the sector. For instance, last year AI was a peripheral tool within cyber architecture. Now, it’s difficult to imagine an event or conference where it isn’t mentioned. According to the latest IBM report, 25% of companies are now turning to AI to address labour shortages, and the tech keeps becoming more influential as it evolves.
Arguably the most pressing issue facing the global cyber security industry however is the shortage of skilled talent and the workforce gap that is preventing us from being able to adequately defend business critical assets and national infrastructure. According to the latest (ISC)² Cybersecurity Workforce Study, there is a workforce gap of 4 million people globally and 57% of professionals state this is the biggest risk to the security of their organisation.
With our privileged position of having a bird’s eye view over the industry, we’ve been able to see firsthand the impact this has had on our sector. Yet we’ve also seen a change in fortunes over the first few months of 2024. As economic pressures ease slightly and more and more leaders come to realise the central importance of security in their operations, the trigger has been pulled on hiring decisions to meet cyber roadmap team builds across the industry. There certainly seems to be a better level of understanding over cyber methodologies all the way up to Board level, and the bar CISOs need to meet for investment is slowly becoming more achievable. All in all, the general feeling could be described as “hopeful”.
