There is arguably no other job sector inside tech that affects more parts of a business than cyber security. With that importance, it’s no wonder that those working in cyber security have the best job security in the United States, with unemployment rates staying at or near 0%, even in years when other IT workers were facing layoffs.
The reason for quality cyber security workers being in such high demand is pretty simple, the cost of a poor security setup for a business can be catastrophic. An IBM report found that the global average cost of a data breach in 2023 was $4.45 million, which is a number that has jumped 15% over the past three years.
Jump straight to the top cyber security salary ranges here.
How Much Did the Cyber Security Workforce Grow in 2023?
That’s why even in 2023, a year that saw many companies tighten their belts when it comes to spending, the North American cyber security workforce grew 11.3% year over year, with nearly 1.5 million cyber security workers. However, overall cyber security budgets only grew 6% during the 2022-2023 budget cycle, which is far lower than the growth rates of 16% and 17% at the start of the decade.
Did Cyber Security Salaries Increase?
Where this discrepancy can be found is while companies both in and out of tech are hiring workers, cyber security salaries have flattened, according to Motion Recruitment’s 2024 Tech Salary Guide. According to the guide, cyber security salaries stayed pretty much the same year-over-year, only seeing a 0.43% increase in 2023, which was lower than the IT industry average of about 2%.
What are the Biggest Cyber Security Job Trends in 2024?
When looking at the cyber security jobs that are currently available, here are some of the trends that cyber security experts are seeing will be key to career success in 2024 and beyond:
1. Artificial Intelligence Taking a More Prominent Role in Cyber Security.
AI technology has taken giant leaps forward in the past few years, with even the President issuing an Executive Order on, “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence,” on October 30, 2023.
In the cyber security space, AI looks to be a double-edged sword. For businesses and cyber security workers, AI has become a great tool to monitor networks and be used as a real-time threat detection system, while automating more remedial security tasks so cyber security teams can work on more advanced threats.
However, with criminals having the same access to these tools and with an emphasis on social engineering, scammers can now send out things like phishing emails on a far more frequent basis than before.
How companies can best utilize AI tools to help bolster their cyber security needs will be a key part of their success in 2024 and beyond. For those using or working with SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) platforms, (which have seen a wave of hiring at the start of 2024), bringing AI and machine learning into the mix can help both mitigate risk and lessen the impact of an ongoing threat. However, these evolving tools can not be a replacement for skilled cyber security workers, but rather a way to make current and future employees more efficient.
2. Enhanced Employee Cyber Security Training.
According to a report compiled by Verizon, 82% of data breaches are caused by human error. However, after training employees, the percentage of workers susceptible to phishing attacks dropped from over 32% down to 5%.
That’s why beyond technology advancements, an increase in training is a way for businesses to improve their cyber security without spending money on employees or tech.
3. Greater Cyber Security Reliance on the Cloud and Zero-Trust.
As more businesses move critical infrastructure to the cloud, the old ways of a perimeter security model need to be adapted. That’s why there has been an increase in demand for the zero-trust model.
However, that doesn’t mean that zero-trust is fully implemented nationwide. In fact, it is predicted that only 10% of large enterprises will have a mature measurable zero-trust program in place by 2026. Massive scale changes to cyber security protocols take time and resources, but to many cyber security veterans, the zero-trust model is the gold standard to protect against criminals and scammers.
Read More: How Moving to DevSecOps Changed the Job Market
Highest Paying Cybersecurity Jobs
What Cyber Security Jobs Saw the Biggest Pay Increases Year-Over-Year?
- Information Security Engineer: Up 6.25%
- Information Security Analyst: Up 3.12%
- Network Security Engineer: Up 2.63%
Top Three Cyber Security Jobs with the Highest Salary (Senior Level):
- Detection Engineer: $230,000
- DevSecOps Engineer: $190,523
- Pen Tester: $175,000
Top Three Cyber Security Jobs with the Highest Salary (Mid-Level)
- DevSecOps Engineer: $167,055
- Application Security Engineer: $158,750
- Pen Tester: $155,000
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