In the US they are looking for half a million cybersecurity experts

Half a million cybersecurity experts. In the US, after the new wave of attacks that led to the blockade of the Colonial Pipeline, becoming a digital security expert is a professional choice that pays immediately, with salaries that can reach $ 90,000 for basic positions. In fact, America has found that nearly half a million jobs in the industry are missing in the country. Half a million experts needed to ensure that companies and public bodies have a sufficient number of internal operators capable of designing and implementing systems that are safe (or less insecure) than the current ones. And parrying the blows of an increasingly insecure internet, with attacks that occur not only in the US.

The lack of experts in the sector has been known for some time, even in Italy. Where, however, there is an excellent network of super-experts, and obviously in Europe, where they are talked about even if the topic is not yet fully in focus, despite the risks it brings with it to us too.

In the US, more pragmatically, it is the market that clearly identifies the problem. And the data speaks for itself: 465,000 cybersecurity experts are missing, according to CyberSeek, the US Department of Commerce’s tech job tracking database. Because in the US, companies have realized that cybersecurity is a problem with important economic repercussions on the business and they want to hire the figures who solve this problem. They are not looking for computer geniuses, hackers, or above-the-norm talents. “You don’t have to graduate from MIT in Boston,” he says Tim Herbert, vice president of CompTIA. “Instead, we need people who have received the right training, have the right certifications in the various technologies and we want to work in this sector”.

In short, working in cybersecurity does not require being part of an elite, also because the profession is increasingly in demand in a very large number of companies and must fit into processes and exploit pre-existing technologies. In the US, cybersecurity is the perfect job for a computer scientist who wants to change specialization with an eight-week online refresher course, he says. Michelle Moore who teaches cybersecurity at the University of San Diego. The change, continues Moore, leads to interesting economic results: jobs in this sector have salaries ranging between 60 and 90 thousand dollars a year.

Is it a difficult job, out of reach for many? No, at least not for those who have a good smattering of computer science and want to go on to specialize. “Cybersecurity is not quantum theory – says Moore – but it cannot be improvised either. Overall, however, it is not difficult. Instead, what is happening now is that companies and organizations cannot find the experts of the sector to be hired because there are not enough skilled workers “. The demand grows, and with it the economic offer. Until saturated, digital insecurity has created a new job market for half a million people, in the US alone. And in the rest of the world?