GREENBELT, Md., March 22, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Cybrary, the leading free, online crowdsourced cybersecurity and IT learning platform, and Cyentia Institute, a leading research services firm, today released the findings from the first annual report, Cybrary Declassified: Unraveling the Cyber Skills Gap and Talent Shortage. The survey, which addresses the ever increasing “cyber talent shortage” and “skills gap,” questioned respondents about the contributions made by their employers towards their continued education, their level of personal and organizational preparedness against cyber attacks, along with the diversity and cultural factors that impact this major market problem.

Cybrary surveyed 3,100 IT, security and other non-technical professionals to learn more and found that:

• Two out of three organizations admit that finding qualified cybersecurity professionals is a struggle;
• 80 percent of respondents do not feel adequately prepared to defend their organizations;
• 68 percent express doubts about their organization’s readiness to thwart advanced threats;
• Half of respondents pay for their own training; only 15 percent say employers cover all training expenses;
• 60 percent of respondents use personal time for their IT and security training. Only 13 percent conduct training during normal business hours;
• 35 percent of respondents spend at least $1,000 annually in training-related expenses.

“As the cybersecurity market continues to evolve, so do the threats and attacks on organizations, which is why employers must continue to train their workforce on the latest defensive tactics in order to ensure that their staff feels adequately prepared to secure their organizations,” said Wade Baker, Co-Founder of Cyentia Institute. “I believe strongly that knowledge and skill development is a critical pillar in bridging the wide talent gap that currently exists in IT and cybersecurity.”

This survey sheds light on the fact that employees are not being supported by their organizations when it comes to investing in their continued education and career development. This is especially unfortunate considering the survey also found that 40 percent of respondents whose employers paid for their training (and spent higher amounts on that training) felt their organizations were significantly more capable of meeting the security challenges facing them today – both at the employee and corporate level.

The survey also explores varying cultural factors such as gender and ethnicity in reference to training provided by employers. While the data indicates that training opportunities are closely tied to experience level and not ethnicity, the findings also surface interesting points about diversity in the workplace. Leaving us to wonder, is diversity growing in the cybersecurity field or are minorities exiting at an alarming rate?

Kathie Miley, Chief Operating Officer of Cybrary, said, “The findings from this survey demonstrate why our mission at Cybrary is so important. By offering free, online crowdsourced content that is available to anyone, we can begin to reverse the side effects that the cyber talent gap has already caused. We’re continuing to develop and roll out new training and learning programs that will assist cyber and IT professionals in receiving the continued career development that they need as well as help companies to fill the open positions littering the industry.”