LinkedIn’s 2018 Emerging Jobs: Singapore report has ranked ‘cyber security specialist’ as the second fastest-growing job role in the country.
Why are cyber security specialists in high demand?
The report examined LinkedIn’s data from the past five years and found that the cyber security specialist role has grown rapidly at a rate of 5.5x during this period.
This rise in demand can be seen as a response from organisations and individuals as they “become increasingly aware of the huge threat that cybercrime and cyber espionage potentially poses”.
Cyber crime is predicted to cost US$6 trillion by 2021, and Singapore is no stranger to this growing threat:
- Earlier this year, criminal hackers stole the personal information of 1.5 million SingHealth patients – equating to just under a third of the country’s population.
- In December 2017, 380,000 people in Singapore were affected by the hack of ride-sharing company Uber, which affected 57 million riders and drivers worldwide.
- In September 2017, AXA Insurance was hit by a cyber attack that led to the personal data of 5,400 customers being stolen.
Singapore’s CSA has also predicted a demand for 3,400 cyber security professionals. CEO David Koh told GovInsider, “our Smart Nation ambitions will be another key demand driver to create economic opportunities and good jobs for our people”.
Skills needed for cyber security specialists
The LinkedIn report highlighted that focusing on a candidate’s skills is key for organisations to attract the best people.
The top skills needed for ‘cyber security specialists’ include:
- Computer security;
- Security;
- Cyber;
- Consulting;
- Management; and
- Information security.
‘Re-skilling’ is a logical approach to finding talent to fill a ‘cyber security specialist’ role, which encourages employee engagement and retention.
This option involves thinking beyond a current employee’s role and instead looking at “adjacent and current hard skills and their soft skill fit”.
Investing in information security training
Anyone in Singapore looking to start or advance their career in cyber security will benefit from training and qualifications that focus on all areas of information security.
ISO 27001 is the international standard that describes best practice for an ISMS (information security management system) – a system of processes, documents, technology and people that helps to manage, monitor, audit and improve your organisation’s information security.
With ISO 27001 certification in Singapore increasing by 46% in the past five years, cyber security specialists would be wise to invest in information security training that equips them with knowledge of ISO 27001 ISMS (information security management system) implementations and audits.
There has never been a better time to achieve an industry-leading, globally recognised qualification to help improve your skills.
