Malware and Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) are multimillion dollar industries, dominated by criminal organizations that are centralized much like modern corporations, with executives, sales staff, and communications teams.

Even amateur hackers now have access to sophisticated malware and phishing techniques designed to attack businesses across the globe. According to Cybersecurity Ventures’ Cybersecurity Report, cyber crime will cost individuals and businesses a cumulative $10.5 trillion by 2025. 

With that murky outlook, many organizations are turning to alternative methods to ensure their network is secure. 

How is your business impacted?
With increased innovation and centralization, criminals are targeting businesses now more than ever. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Report, cyber crime complaints increased 69% in 2020, and a successful breach now costs an average of $3.86 million based on research by IBM.

As organizations continue their full-scale integration within the digital world, hackers are ready to pick off companies that are not fully secure, nor investing time and money into cyber security. 

In fact, Tessian reported 75% of businesses around the world experienced a phishing or social engineering attack in 2020.

What’s more, many cyber security professionals are located in major tech cities and taking positions at large companies with a sizable budget advantage over small and medium-sized businesses. That leaves the majority of global companies with the question of how to protect their network, their IP and their customer information while remaining on budget. 

Can companies hire their way to better security? 
We are currently in the middle of a global cyber security talent shortage as the number of cyber criminals outpaces professionals trained to keep businesses safe. An estimated 3.5 million cyber security jobs will go unfilled due to a shortage of qualified applicants. 

That number presents myriad problems for companies interested in hiring. Not only is it difficult to find experienced help outside of major cities, but the salary demands can be costly. 

Can you hire temporary workers? 
Hiring freelancers or contract workers can help organizations test new applications or fix high priority security issues that need to be completed in a small time frame. Since freelancers move from contract to contract, most companies cannot rely on temporary help for long-term solutions. Companies interested in building a lasting security infrastructure still need to rely on full-time employees.  

Training your way to cyber security solutions 
There is an alternative to hiring. Most companies already have an information technology team in place, filled with employees who understand the building blocks of information security. While cyber security requires additional knowledge, many IT employees are eager to learn new skills that will help them grow professionally. 

Quality technology training is effective because you are teaching new skills to employees who already understand the business’s cyber security needs, their network setup, and the human factor of the company. It’s also much less expensive than hiring external personnel and allows a measure of managerial oversight that ensures ROI.

Reinventing employee benefits 
Systems and technology change rapidly, and companies must focus on the lifelong model of learning that allows employees to remain current on their education and training. For IT departments that are expanding into cyber security, training employees allows individuals to feel a personal stake in their own development and the development of the company. 

Professional development courses are a vital benefit for organizations interested in retaining their top talent. That’s because employees are invested in an organization when they feel an organization is invested in them. For companies working towards building their cyber security team, this is a win-win scenario. By providing training that keeps your network secure, you’re also engaging your best talent in a way that builds good will.  

Building for the future
The only thing certain in the future of IT and cyber security is change. Criminal enterprises develop new attack methods quickly, and organizations without an internal cyber security team are unprepared for new threats and vulnerable to attack.  

To prepare for the inevitable, build with intent. Now that you have established the need for cross-training your IT team, meet with them to understand their interests within the security sector and develop training paths for individuals that cater to their strengths and fulfill business goals. 

While red team training such as penetration testing and exploit development is overwhelmingly popular in the ethical hacking space, you will need individuals trained in defensive measures such as threat hunting, network analysis, incident response, and web defense as well.

If your company is interested in INE’s industry-leading cyber security team training, sign up for our free trial today or contact us to learn more.