According to the 2023 Cyber Security in Focus study compiled by cyber security recruiting experts Stott and May, hiring openings is a source of frustration for security leaders. 66% are having difficulty finding talent for their company. After 8 weeks, 69% of security posts remain vacant. For Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), pay expectations in the business are rising. Salary levels, according to 47% of respondents, have climbed by over 11% year on year. Another 31% expect salary inflation to be across 6 and 10%.
CISOs regard funding as the most significant obstacle to plan implementation in 2023, surpassing internal skills for the first time. The budget was recognised as the biggest impediment to executing on strategy by 51% of security executives, with internal skills (34%), board-level buy-in (11%), and technology (3%) all named as concerns by the worldwide sample of CISOs.
Strategic expenditure on security continues but with little space for innovation. 44% expect their budgets to remain the same or decline. Only 53% say security spending keeps up with digital business. Cloud security (25%), IAM (20%), and security and vulnerability management (18%) are the top three priority investment areas for CISOs in 2023.
The emphasis shifts to aligning security risk with company strategy. 55% of security professionals believe that cyber security is an important objective for their firm, while 60% say that the security function improves the entire value proposition to consumers.
The Cyber Security in Focus report is an annual research report that investigates the views of a superior sample of 60 CISOs and security leaders on significant issues such as skills shortages, barriers to strategy execution, perceptions of security-related operations, and future technology investment. Participants were drawn from Stott and May’s professional connections across EMEA and North America. The report includes qualitative interviews with key industry leaders in the cyber security area, in conjunction with primary quantitative research and results.
Haris Pylarinos, Founder & CEO of Hack The Box, discussed the top obstacles CISOs face when developing a high-performing security unit. “It’s the ability to stay outward looking and ensure that internal skills stay up to date. You can hire the best security professionals out there with field experience, but the problem is that this knowledge can degrade over time because cyber security is evolving at such a rapid pace.”
Furthermore, Chris Castaldo, CISO of Crossbeam, shared his perspective on the primary challenges that CISOs face while implementing their cyber security roadmaps. “Not understanding the business. That’s the main barrier. Everyone that I talk to that’s trying to implement some new tool or a new process or policy and meets resistance typically hasn’t spent enough time trying to understand what those stakeholders really care about and tailoring that message to them.”
About Stott and May
Founded in 2009, Stott and May is a professional technology recruitment firm with a passion for helping leaders achieve complete confidence that they have hired the right talent first time in fiercely competitive markets.
