An assessment of the ICT Security Skills in the Industrial Sector as Provided Through Education and Training

Cybersecurity has become an increasingly important aspect of public policy as Internet traffic increases and mounting cyber threats affect the operation of governments and businesses as well as the everyday life of citizens. Cybersecurity policy-making is at a turning point, becoming a national policy priority with explicit strategies in several countries. Even though the availability of high-level ICT security skills would significantly contribute in leveraging the economic growth of companies, still there is a lack of ICT security skills in Europe. In this paper, the ICT security skills gap between the industry needs and the academia/training curricula is investigated in seven European regions, followed by an analysis of the findings. Based on the findings, a framework is proposed to narrow the security skills gap.