India has a shortage of 8 lakh cybersecurity professionals, says WEF Cybersecurity Head

India currently has a shortage of roughly 800,000 cybersecurity professionals and this is against a global shortage of about four million, Akshay Joshi, Head-Industry, Cybersecurity, World Economic Forum (WEF) said on January 14.

Speaking at the WEF 2024 in Davos, Joshi told CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan that one-fifth of the global shortfall persists in India, presenting both a challenge and an opportunity. Despite the disparity, he highlighted India's tech-savvy workforce, suggesting that redirecting this talent towards cybersecurity could yield substantial long-term benefits.

Joshi's remarks coincided with the release of the World Economic Forum Global Risks Perception Survey 2023-2024, which identified misinformation and cyber insecurity as the top and fourth most severe short-term risks, respectively. Looking ahead over a 10-year period, misinformation and disinformation ranked fifth, adverse outcomes of artificial intelligence technologies claimed the sixth spot and cyber insecurity stood at number eight in terms of severity.

The WEF Cybersecurity Head underscored the escalating cyber inequity, noting that large organisations possess the means to invest and enhance their cyber resilience, while more vulnerable entities lack resources. Consequently, a growing number of organisations struggle to maintain a minimum viable level of cyber resilience, experiencing a 30% decline since 2022—a concerning trend, according to Joshi.

He explained several factors contributing to this which include a very complex threat landscape, limited resource investment and the skills that people have.

“A big part of it is technology, people and process and if you don't have adequate people who can help boost that resilience, it's very hard. So that's why we believe that cyber inequity is rather exacerbated and 90% of all executives that we interviewed said that this is an area that needs very urgent action.”

Reiterating the importance of skilled cybersecurity personnel, Joshi asserted when companies look to invest in technologies, they also need to have the right people for it. “If you're able to make sure that technology is secure by design, you have the right fundamentals in place in terms of processes, how are you structuring your policies such that you have adequate mechanisms and safeguards? Also, if you're complying with the requisite regulation, the last link is the one that is the most tricky, it is really the people.”