HACKING THE SKILLS GAP

ONE OF THE MOST OVERWHELMING PROBLEMS IN CYBERSECURITY IS A BALLOONING SKILLS SHORTAGE. WITH THE SHORTFALL OF CYBERSECURITY TALENT EXPECTED TO REACH AS HIGH AS 3.5 MILLION UNFILLED ROLES BY 2021, SHOULD ORGANISATIONS LOOK INTO RECRUITING HACKERS TO ADDRESS THE SKILLS GAP CRISIS? DANIEL BARDSLEY INVESTIGATES.

- DANIEL BARDSLEY

Computer hackers tend not to come out well when they are depicted in the movies or featured on the television news.

A film might show a young man in a darkened room furiously typing away on his keyboard as he gains unauthorised entry to a government’s top-secret defence network.

Meanwhile, hackers are often portrayed in the news media as dishonest loners who have got themselves into serious trouble.

Yet, there is a positive side to computer hacking, one that some researchers say companies could do more to harness as they look to fill cybersecurity skills gaps.

Those skills gaps are significant, with a recent survey by the IT analysis company the Enterprise Strategy Group recently finding that cybersecurity had the most severe shortages of any IT sector. Moreover, the proportion of companies reporting cybersecurity skills gaps in the survey has increased for four consecutive years.

A common misconception about hackers – and one reinforced by their appearances on the big and small screens – is that they are all engaged with unethical or illegal activities.

Whilst some do have malevolent intent, many are, by contrast, carrying out ethical hacking, which may involve investigating flaws in the security of networks or software with a view to highlighting them so that gaps can be plugged.

“Individuals round the world will look at a particular product, work out a weakness and go back to the product supplier and suggest how to patch things up,” says Dr. Christopher Richardson, a UK-based researcher who has looked at hacking communities.

“[They will say]: ‘I’ve done this. I’ve got in. If I can get in, anybody can get in.’ That’s the type of thing I’m in favour of.”