Cybersecurity skills are now in shorter supply than cloud computing and cloud infrastructure, and Australia faces a fight for talent from more developed markets in the US, UK and Canada, the report said.
It also noted the anticipated growth in workforce shortages in Australian cybersecurity, database management and ICT (information and communications technology) security exceeds 38 per cent, outstripping forecasts for care and software development.
The report said the current Australian cybersecurity workforce was around 68,400.
Collective effort required
“Domestic and international evidence put the current shortfall at 25,000-30,000 positions that will be needed by 2024. Both estimates appear to be derived soundly, with the [National Skills Commission] estimates based on ABS Labour Force Survey data,” the report said.
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Mr Paitaridis said he was not going to be “alarmist” and believed the issue could be solved through a collective effort of government, industry, and academia across TAFE and universities.
One of the glaring gaps that needed to be tackled was the gender distribution of cybersecurity workers. According to the NSC, women make up just 21 per cent of the workforce.
“That’s a big lever for us to try and unlock,” Mr Paitaridis said.
He said universities and TAFE had been doing heavy lifting in terms of bringing qualifications and curriculums up to date. However, graduates were not job-ready and completion rates in TAFE, particularly in ICT engineering, were declining.
“We don’t only want to point to the CyberCX Academy, although we’re enormously sort of proud of it. But those integrated workplace models are about intensive programs, you don’t have to go through a three-year course or a five-year course,” he said.
“Within six months we can take a candidate – whether they come from university, TAFE, or they come from mid-career from virtually low levels of zero proficiency – to get on the tools and actually be able to work on cybersecurity tasks and roles and activities and projects.”
