Bridging the Gap: How Identifying Skill Gaps on Your Cybersecurity Team Fuels Upskilling and Compliance
A robust cybersecurity team is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. However, simply having a team isn't enough. To effectively defend against sophisticated attacks and meet stringent compliance requirements, your team must possess the right skills; that's where the critical process of identifying skill gaps comes into play.
INE can help pinpoint gaps for targeted upskilling initiatives and, ultimately, a stronger security posture that aligns with compliance needs.
The Importance of Skill Gap Analysis
Cybersecurity is a dynamic field. New threats emerge constantly, technologies evolve rapidly, and regulations like CMMC and GDPR demand specific expertise. Evaluating your team's current skills against the skills required to meet challenges helps you understand where your team excels, where they need improvement, and where crucial expertise is lacking. Ignoring these gaps leaves your organization vulnerable to attacks and puts you at risk of non-compliance.
Training as a Solution for Skill Misalignment
When a leader faces this challenge the answer is simple: get them in the right seat. Figuring out what role the employee is best suited for isn’t always straightforward. INE’s Skill Sonar aptitude data tool uses baseline assessments in Cybersecurity and Networking to offer visibility of strengths and training opportunities.
With this tool, a technology leader’s visibility goes from:
“This person is a great culture fit but is underperforming.”
To:
“This person is a great culture fit and underperforming on the Blue Team assessment. However, they exceed expectations on the Red Team assessment.”
Or:
“This person performed really well in certain parts of the Blue Team assessment, but there are clear areas that could be targeted with training to address their performance issues.”
Visibility into the aptitude data gives you, as a technology leader, the information you need to make better decisions on how to staff your team.
The Cybersecurity Compliance Connection
Many compliance frameworks, such as CMMC, NIST CSF, and ISO 27001, require organizations to demonstrate that they have a skilled and competent cybersecurity team. By proactively identifying skill gaps and investing in upskilling, you can, meet compliance requirements and demonstrate due diligence.
You can also protect the bottom line by reducing compliance costs. By proactively addressing skill gaps, you can avoid costly fines and penalties associated with non-compliance.
INE continues to refine exactly how businesses can meet those objectives by continuing to leverage top experts and platforms. Skill Sonar, helps cybersecurity and networking leaders visualize the results of baseline assessments for current-state abilities across their teams. Leaders can then identify training objectives for everyone on their team and collaborate to get them on the right training track. Selecting learning paths and courses tailored to specific knowledge, skills, and abilities enables employees to develop expertise in areas that align with their career aspirations and the organization's needs.
How to Identify Skill Gaps Using Skill Sonar
Identifying skill gaps requires a multi-faceted approach for most teams. Skill Sonar can help streamline the process to get teams upskilled and reskilled with minimal investment compared to other training programs.
Assess Current Skills: Utilize skills assessments, quizzes, or practical tests to evaluate your team's proficiency in specific areas, such as penetration testing, incident response, or security auditing.
With Skill Sonar you can assess current proficiency levels:
As team members work through training objectives, they will have the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of new skills and level up!
Skill Sonar addresses skill gaps:
Team visibility empowers leadership to identify skill gaps and implement training plans to bridge those gaps ASAP.
Analyze Incident Response: Review past security incidents and breaches. Did any skill gaps contribute to the incident or hinder the response? This provides real-world examples of where training is needed.
Skill Sonar has targeted training recommendations. Easily target training objectives with auto-generated training playlists based on skill assessment performance.
Stay Informed About Industry Trends: Keep up with the latest cybersecurity trends, threats, and technologies. Identify emerging skills your team will need to stay ahead of the curve.
Consult with Experts: Engage external cybersecurity consultants to conduct a comprehensive skill gap analysis and provide recommendations for improvement.
INE provides free and up-to-date resources regularly to our community. Including, capture-the-flag exercises released every month.
INE can help with solutions to identify gaps, train, and help keep up to date for any modern cybersecurity team
Identifying skill gaps is not just a box-ticking exercise; it's a strategic investment in your organization's future. By proactively addressing these gaps through targeted upskilling initiatives, you can build a robust cybersecurity team that's ready to face any challenge, meet compliance requirements, and protect your valuable assets. Don't wait until a security incident exposes your weaknesses – start identifying and bridging those skill gaps today!
