India witnesses demand for 40,000 cybersecurity jobs

The cyber landscape within India has been struggling with the volume of attacks so far in 2023. Not only is the IT sector experiencing a shortage of cybersecurity professionals, but a June 2023 study by TeamLease Digital highlighted a rise in global weekly cyber-attacks, with Indian organisations experiencing over 2,000 weekly attacks in Q1 2023.

In what has been hailed as a turning point for India’s cybersecurity industry, Lt Gen MU Nair has assumed a key role at The National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC). His international background in signal intelligence, cyber warfare and technology centralises him in India’s renewed focus hoping to see cyber defence capabilities strengthened.

High cybersecurity demand in lieu of increased attacks

According to Business Today, India is witnessing demand for 40,000 cybersecurity jobs, indicating that there is an exceptionally high demand in the industry. Reasons for an industry shortage could be that technology is advancing too quickly in contrast to not enough workers having the appropriate skill-set to handle complex cyber attacks.

More globally, there is an extensive cybersecurity skills gap within the industry which includes a workforce gap of about 3.4m people. With hackers now using more sophisticated tactics to access sensitive data, the need for a larger skilled workforce is never more urgent.

Cyber Magazine previously reported that 41.9m records were compromised by cyber-attacks across the world. A sudden escalation of this type of crime can be put down to more skilled criminals and ransomware gangs who are focused on hacking tools that are used by remote workers and institutions that shifted to e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Healthcare sectors have also seen an increase worldwide, with US healthcare organisations in particular continuing to be the most compromised by data breaches for the third year in a row (as of January 2023).

NCCC works to coordinate cybersecurity across key national agencies, including situational awareness, existing cyber threats and alerts during cyber attacks. It also screens all forms of metadata to facilitate better coordination between intelligence agencies, working to strengthen national cybersecurity.

It is the hope that Lt Gen MU Nair’s background in strategy will better enforce coordination, intelligence sharing and effective responses to counter ever-evolving cyber threats in India.

The country is working towards better unity between organisations to better prevent cyber-attacks. Google, Apple, Paytm, as well as representatives from major technology companies and banks, recently came together to discuss rising cyber crime.

It is clear that there is a greater need for skilled workers in cybersecurity roles to prevent the cost of global attacks from rising even further.