Some influencers may say that there is a massive skills shortage in cybersecurity (which is somewhat true). However, the real concern is a supply and demand mismatch, which makes it a business-risk problem. The tech is evolving fast, and companies are becoming more vulnerable to threats and fraud. That's why companies need more skilled workers than the market can supply.
Your CompTIA Security+ or Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) certificate is not getting you jobs like it used to. First, you have to work in feeder roles, then in entry-level SOC or GRC roles, then you might get where you want. However, organizations are managing the gap by hiring differently. They're training the people they already have, using automation carefully, and giving skilled staff a reason to stay. Here is what the latest ISC2 and ISACA research shows, and how to act on it.
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The Gap Is Bigger Than Headcount
Let's understand the gravity of the situation. The ISC2's 2024 Cybersecurity Workforce study says that the global cybersecurity workforce is around 5.5 million people. But organizations need almost double the number of people to secure themselves properly. So, there's a huge gap of 4.8 million people, which is 19.1 percent more than in 2023.
Another problem addressed in the study is that the security teams had no entry-level professionals, and 15 percent had no junior-level staff. Without newcomers, teams struggle to pass knowledge down, and the upcoming senior experts never get the chance to grow.
However, things changed a bit in 2025. The ISC2's 2025 Workforce Study is based on 16,029 practitioners and decision-makers, who put skills ahead of the headcount. It found that 95 percent of respondents reported at least one skills deficit, and 59 percent called those needs critical or significant, up from 44 percent in 2024. ISC2 did not publish a fresh global gap estimate that year.
Adding people alone does not fix the problem. Your team can be fully staffed on paper, but struggle with identity management, cloud security, incident response, or AI-related risk. The 2025 study said that AI was the most pressing skills need at 41 percent, followed by cloud security at 36 percent. That was up from 34 percent in 2024, a sign of how quickly the industry moves.
Why the Shortage Keeps Growing
The biggest factor behind the growing skills shortage is the fast-changing threat landscape. Threats are getting harder to manage, and companies are adopting cloud services and AI faster than they can secure them. The 2024 ISC2 study suggests that 74 percent of respondents believe that they are witnessing the most challenging threat landscape they have seen in five years.
Budgets are another problem. In the same 2024 study, it was found that 37 percent of respondents had faced budget cuts, 25 percent had seen layoffs in their security teams, and 38 percent had experienced hiring freezes. So, for the first time in history, the lack of budget was replaced by a shortage of talent as the top reason for understaffing.
The 2025 ISC2 study shows the pressure easing but not disappearing. It found that 33 percent of respondents said their organizations lack the resources to staff their teams adequately, and 29 percent said they cannot afford to hire people with the skills they need. Similarly, the ISACA State of Cybersecurity 2025 report surveyed more than 3,800 professionals, telling a similar story.
The ISACA report found that 55 percent of teams are understaffed and 65 percent have unfilled positions. Moreover, 66 percent of respondents say their roles are more stressful than five years ago, a sign that lean teams are carrying heavier loads. Interestingly, soft skills, critical thinking, communication and problem-solving were some of the largest skill gaps.
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Hire for Potential, Not Perfection
Another roadblock for cybersecurity professionals is that most candidates are treated as if they're applying for a senior specialist with a decade of experience. With this approach, the talent pool narrows down and leaves very few doors open for newcomers. Hence, the entry-level gap in the ISC2 data is even harder to close.
People working in adjacent backgrounds are underestimated. There are IT support, networking, software development, risk, audit, data analysis and customer service professionals who have habits that can translate well. And many of them can learn security tasks on the job if there are good mentors to train.
Instead of filtering by degrees or certifications, organizations can hire based on skills. There are ways to check practical ability through labs, simulations, take-home exercises, and structured interviews. ISACA's 2025 report implies the same thing. Adaptability and hands-on experience are the biggest skills. Moreover, entry-level roles should not be hard to crack, as a junior analyst can't lead an incident response on day one. So, it's always better to build a ladder that people can actually climb.
Train the Team You Already Have
Hiring is not some magic wand that will solve everything, and it cannot close a gap of millions. That's where your existing workforce plays a critical role. Without spending fortunes, organizations can develop internal talent faster. However, the ISACA's 2025 report says that only 29 percent of enterprises train non-security staff to move into security roles, down from 41 percent in 2024.
48 percent of respondents in ISC2's 2025 study are gaining general knowledge, whereas 35 percent are studying AI-related vulnerabilities and exploits. To fill this missed opportunity, employers have to back it with time, effort and budget to solve their hiring problem.
When you tie training to real business needs, for instance, a company moving to the cloud should emphasize configuration review, cloud identity, logging and incident response. Besides, the staff should be trained on AI, data protection, model risk, and vendor security. All this can be done practically via tabletop exercises, phishing simulations, secure-code reviews and incident walkthroughs.
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Use Automation Wisely, and Keep Your People
Automation can take repetitive work off busy teams so workers can focus on complex investigations. The ISC2 2025 survey found that 28 percent of respondents said they had already integrated AI tools into their operations. However, AI is a helper, not a replacement for your judgement. And there are risks like data leakage, inaccurate outputs and attacks that might manipulate AI systems.
Moreover, the mood among cybersecurity professionals is more hopeful than fearful. Only 18 percent are actively considering a career change because of AI, and many see it as a chance to advance. So, hold on to the talent you have, as it is hard to find qualified cybersecurity professionals. When they have clear career paths, fair pay, manageable workloads and recognition, it could help a company grow in the right direction.
