With a far-reaching network and on-the-ground expertise, dedicated banking partner Citi retains institutional clients that include 90% of global Fortune 500 companies, and customers of Citi (through its retail bank, credit cards, wealth management experts and more) are provided with personalized financial guidance supported by the digital capabilities that today’s world demands.

This, to our team’s ears, makes Citi reliable when it comes to market analyses, as well. And recently, Citi published a Global Perspectives & Solutions (or GPS) report titled “The Cyber Problem: Causes and Consequences of the Risk in Cyber Skill Demand” (available to read in full here).

The long-story-short of Citi’s report is that rising exposure to cyber threats (due in part to increased connectivity the world over) is becoming even more damning for virtually any type of business. Forms of cyberwarfare like DoS and DDoS attacks, password and other authentication intrusions, malware and ransomware, phishing and vishing, DNS spoofing, and cross-site scripting (XSS) can prove devastating.

“Cyber attack costs have begun to bite,” said Pantelis Koutroumpis, Lead Economist for the Oxford Martin Programme on Technological and Economic Change. “Apart from the direct costs, supply chain disruptions and reputational damage can be substantial. Nevertheless, firms are struggling to hire skilled cybersecurity professionals to reduce these costs.”

So, what can be done? According to Citi, a firm’s resilience to cyber risks (as well as the resilience of its partners and suppliers) can be improved by legitimately doubling or tripling down on what Koutroumpis described, a.k.a. really investing in the type of professional cybersecurity expertise required. Cybersecurity should be integrated into organizations’ social responsibility agendas, as breaches can be financially, materially, and reputationally debilitating.

Citi’s analysis also suggests that, quote, “relying on private sector product vendors, with robust built-in AI/automation, that offer higher and more headcount-efficient defense, also enhances talent development and availability in the cyber space.” Citi’s proprietary research has shown that properly funded and supported security analytics operations toolsets benefit risk management strategies greatly.

More can be gleaned from the full report in the link provided, but I’d like to close out this coverage with a quote from fellow TechZone360 Editor and writer extraordinaire, Greg Tavarez:

“I've written a lot of articles covering cybersecurity over the past year, and one of the main issues circles back to firms struggling to bring skilled cybersecurity professionals in,” Tavarez said. (This tracks with Citi’s report, given supply of cyber professionals can boil down to, per Citi, “2.6 cyber job postings per cyber profession.”)

“As threats continue to increase across the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape, the demand for professionals increases,” Tavarez continues. “Well, just as Citi’s report says, the number of qualified candidates does not meet anywhere near that demand. To me, the reason is because the rapidly evolving cybersecurity field is making the job more complex, requiring higher and higher levels of cybersecurity expertise and profound understandings of complex systems. This, as most can imagine, is difficult to find in candidates.”

But neither Citi nor Tavarez himself believe this to be impossible; difficult (i.e. especially after coming off a global pandemic), but not impossible. As mentioned, half-measures in bringing in knowledgeable cybersecurity personnel won’t cut it in the long haul. Full-measures are truly necessary.

In addition to Citi’s report, read more insightful work from Tavarez here.