The Importance of Hiring the Right Cybersecurity Talent for Your Business

As a business owner, you know that cybersecurity is increasingly essential in a digital world. However, you may not know how or where to start finding the right cybersecurity talent to protect your business.

Hiring successfully can be challenging, as there are many different cybersecurity roles and responsibilities to consider, and as the saying goes, “you don’t know what you don’t know.”

The needs are immediate, the stakes are high, and you can’t afford to make mistakes.

These days, top talent is hard to come by in just about every industry, but hiring in cybersecurity is even more fraught. The threat environment is evolving at unprecedented levels, and demand is rising. Unfortunately, the talent pool isn’t getting any deeper. Organizations today need to think outside the box to ensure they have the skills required to keep their company infrastructure and data safe.

To give you an idea of the financial risk companies may face, here are some alarming statistics, according to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report:

• The United States has the highest average cost for data breaches.
• It takes an average of 287 days to recover from a breach.
• 39% of the cost of a breach occurs after the attack is remediated.
• The remote work trend has increased the cost and frequency of breaches.
• Cybercriminals are capable of penetrating 93% of corporate networks.
• Businesses today face 50% more attacks per week compared to last year.

Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) provide expertise and a low-risk solution helping companies meet their cyber mandates quickly, effectively, and at scale. But MSSPs are not always a complete solution. Companies need a strong, holistic cybersecurity team to support the MSSP. Technology, after all, is only as good as the people behind it.

The Right People Make the Difference

A recent Forrester report found that, despite widespread messaging alerting us to severe shortfalls in cybersecurity staffing, the real problems are bias, inadequate compensation, and ineffective hiring processes. It further states that hiring managers may be focused too much on certifications, especially for entry-level positions. This practice eliminates many excellent candidates and creates massive gaps in the infosec team, feeding the myth of no adequate candidates.

Hiring for intellect, motivation, and fit is a more sustainable practice and may help organizations to build stronger teams. In short, it’s about being capable of identifying these qualities. Intellect indicates a propensity to learn. Self-motivated individuals will be moved to gain certifications, and a good cultural fit will ensure employees stay with the company and gain experience over time.

Women, especially, are subject to hiring bias in cybersecurity, which can easily veer into toxic heroism if a balance is not struck. A Harvard Business School study found that when organizational toxicity persists, 38% of employees intentionally reduced the quality of their work, and 66% reported lower productivity.

Gender and other bias issues aside, Forrester reports that a toxic security team faces the fear of failure, disengagement, and general team dysfunction. Unfortunately, simply being aware of these potential chicanes is not enough to foster change. Without a strong and united security team, your company may be at risk.

Enterprise companies are especially challenged when it comes to hiring and leadership in cybersecurity. Executives in decision-making positions understand the need for risk reduction but 98% lack experience in cybersecurity and are uncomfortable with its oversight. As a result, their infosec teams lack balance and efficiency and may not be providing adequate value or risk reduction.

Cost to Value in Cybersecurity

Zyston’s Human Capital Services (HCS) helps companies overcome many of the above mentioned issues and is an excellent adjunct to MSSP services. Considering the cost of a breach in today’s sophisticated threat environment, HCS combined with MSSP provides superior value.

HCS helps you achieve your security program goals faster while eliminating the costs associated with a traditional recruiting process. When you consider the average impact of a data breach today is in excess of $4.24 million, there is no room for error and little time to waste. Zyston HCS provides 360˚ coverage that reduces costs and strengthens security program maturity over time, representing significant value and building organizational resilience.

HR Trends and Challenges for Cybersecurity

The cybersecurity skills shortage is nothing new. In fact, the talent gap has been widening for years and doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

According to a recent ESG study, 57% of companies in the United States have a cybersecurity skills shortfall. 44% of those surveyed said that the situation has become worse over time. Underscoring this data, ISC2 reported a shortage of 377,000 cybersecurity workers in 2021—a number that is sure to have risen since the report was published just one year ago.

This skills gap is exacerbated by a few key issues:

• Not enough talent coming out of the educational system
• High burnout as available talent is constantly pressured to do more
• Increasing threat sophistication
• Higher threat volumes
• Work-from-home amplifying security concerns

Considering the burgeoning threats, businesses can’t wait for the educational system to catch up. Companies need to take matters into their own hands and get creative about attracting, hiring and retaining top cybersecurity talent.

Beyond the talent shortage itself, the cybersecurity landscape is diverse. There are many specialties and skill sets to consider. If you don’t know your industry’s specific risks or understand your company’s current threat level and security program maturity, it can be challenging to know where to start.

That’s where an MSSP like Zyston can help.

What is an MSSP?

An MSSP is a cybersecurity vendor providing clients with remote (and often outsourced) cybersecurity services. Services can be either comprehensive, covering all cybersecurity needs from detection to response and staff augmentation, or à la carte, allowing customers to pick and choose the services they need.

Zyston takes the practice a step further, providing comprehensive services that include technology and staffing. We work with our clients to ensure they have industry-leading skills to address their specific concerns. We offer services that include helping you hire and place the right technical and leadership talent, or we can handle 100% of your cybersecurity needs.

Zyston Human Capital Services

People are one of the most critical aspects of a successful cybersecurity program, but talent shortages at every level challenge organizational growth and increase risk.

Zyston’s Human Capital Services was created to help organizations access the cybersecurity skills they need without the time, expense, and risk associated with the traditional recruiting process. Our HCS network includes skilled technicians, managers, and executives ready to deploy on a full-time, project-based, or fractional basis, helping to fill the gaps without delay.

We help companies of all sizes grow stronger and more resilient, ensuring they have the talent they need to advance and thrive despite the widespread cyber talent shortage. In combining an MSSP with Human Capital Services, organizations gain continuity, strengthening their security program and reducing costs and complexities from the inside out.

The Benefits of Hiring an External MSSP

There are several reasons why working with an MSSP is advantageous, but the primary benefits are agility, scalability, and flexibility.

1.     Agile

Staffing with an MSSP allows you to hit the ground running. Companies gain immediate access to a highly-skilled team and cybersecurity technology tailored to their specific needs and threat environment.

2.     Scalable

An MSSP can rapidly scale up or down as cybersecurity needs change, providing organizations with the agility they need to respond quickly to cybersecurity threats. This scalability also allows businesses to keep pace with the ever-changing threat environment.

3.     Flexible

MSSPs can augment in-house teams or provide a 360˚ solution according to specific needs. An MSSP can also be hired for project-based initiatives, helping companies achieve their goals faster.

4.     Cost Reduction

MSSPs represent a significant cost reduction compared to hiring full-time staff. The cost of hiring goes far beyond salary and benefits as it includes HR time and investment in hiring initiatives, such as attracting, recruiting, screening, and training.

5.     Risk Reduction

As with hiring for any high-level position, there are massive risks involved. A poor cultural fit can impede productivity, and bad hires could cost the company 30% or more of the employee’s yearly salary—and that doesn’t even consider the potential cost of a breach. Staffing with an MSSP removes those risks as the provider is responsible for the employee and oversees their performance, ensuring suitability for the task.

Learn More About Hiring Cybersecurity Talent

To learn more about Zyston’s Human Capital Delivery, download our one-pager here. Scroll to the bottom of the page and enter your email for immediate access.