The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) has released figures which show that the number of IT security vacancies increased by 6.2 per cent by the end of April 2017.
There was strong demand for IT Security staff from the Accountancy (40%), Retail and Education sectors, all of whom hold huge amounts of sensitive data.
The largest industry increase in terms of vacancies came from Professional Services, driven by the demand for Accountancy jobs.
Across the country, the Greater London region dominated the IT Security sector, with vacancies up 12% up year-on-year, thereby accounting for just over of UK vacancies (51%). Elsewhere, the figures found that Yorkshire and Humber had the fastest growth in vacancies in percentage terms, with a 41% increase in demand, despite accounting for only 5% of the UK’s vacancies in this sector.
Ann Swain, chief executive of APSCo, commented on the report saying:
“As the recent WannaCry attacks on the NHS have demonstrated, the importance and profile of IT Security roles has never been greater. Our figures show that IT Security is taking on a life of its own, challenged only by the financial services sector, as it continues to expand.
“This growing trend is backed by Kroll’s 2017 Annual Global Fraud and Risk Report where 92% of UK executives said their firm had suffered a cyber security attack in the last 12 months, which is a huge number of attacks for firms to be subjected to. It’s clear that firms, in whatever business they are in, are taking this growing threat seriously and looking at increasing their staffing levels, to cope with the higher threat levels.”
To read Kroll’s 2017 Annual Global Fraud and Risk Report click here
