Australia is facing a severe cybersecurity skills shortage at a time when the sector has never been more important to the economy or the lives of all people.
According to the Australian Cyber Security Growth Network, Australia needs 17,000 more cyber workers by 2026 to address the current need, and the increase in cyber graduates is not enough to meet this significant shortfall.
And by just next year it’s estimated that Australia must increase its cyber workforce to 33,500 by 2024 in order to keep the general public safe from malicious online actors.
This is at a time when the cyber threat facing Australian businesses and people has never been higher.
And it’s not just a problem impacting Australia, with the global cyber skills shortage estimated to be about 2.7 million people.
The major breaches of Optus, Medibank and Latitude Financial, among others, have demonstrated the severe impact a cyber attack can have, and the importance of focusing on cybersecurity across the board.
It’s clear that something needs to change in order to fill the cyber skills gap and ensure Australia is as cyber safe as possible.
Canberra-based FifthDomain is offering a way to tackle the cyber skills shortfall with a platform to vet potential employees in situations mimicking the real world. Its Assessor platform is a browser-based tool that can identify cyber talent that may be missed in a more traditional job search.
Assessor provides a risk-free environment to test prospective cyber candidates in skills-based assessments replicating realistic scenarios they will face on the job.
FifthDomain is a finalist in the InnovationAus2023 Awards for Excellence in the Cybersecurity category. The awards will be decided at a black-tie gala at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on November 1. You can secure your tickets here.
Using a tool such as FifthDomain’s Assessor can help to take some of the bias out of the hiring process, and can also assist neurodiverse people who may struggle with more traditional recruitment methods.
The Canberra company has already assessed over 2600 people and has implemented its platform for more than 14 Australian organisations in the public and private sector.
FifthDomain has landed a $3 million grant through the Department of Science and Innovation’s Cyber Security Skills Partnership Innovation Fund for its Cyber National Assessment Program for Skills and Employment. It has also secured $3.4 million in venture capital funding, and has accessed the research and development tax incentive.
The company is also offering its service to existing teams as well through the Labs platform.
Custom-built cyber labs can help companies to offer cybersecurity training courses to employees, allowing them to launch virtual machines from their own laptop, and then go through the steps that real professionals do to respond to a cyber attack, but in a safe and isolated environment.
The InnovationAus 2023 Awards for Excellence are proudly supported by Investment NSW, AusIndustry, Australian Computer Society, Technology Council of Australia, Agile Digital, CSIRO, TechnologyOne, IP Australia, METS Ignited and Q-CTRL.
Protecting your great ideas with intellectual property (IP) rights can lead to lasting benefits for your growing business. IP refers to creations of the mind, such as a brand, logo, invention, design or artistic work. Head to the IP Australia website to find out more about IP, and how it might help your business.
Reserve your place at the InnovationAus Awards for Excellence black-tie dinner by clicking here.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.