Cyber Roles

Digital business is creating pressure for organizations to restructure and formally address privacy, digital asset risk, security, and compliance in response to new regulatory mandates. ¹

Companies are investing in people, processes, and tools to holistically address the needs of cybersecurity, risk, privacy, and compliance that have arisen from the digitalization of business.

There is a severe shortage of talent related to the exponential rise in cybersecurity positions, risk, compliance, and privacy. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, over an eight-year period, the number of unfilled cybersecurity jobs globally is expected to grow by 350%, an increase from one million in 2013 to 3.5 million in 2021. According to the MIT Technology Review, fewer than one in four of the candidates who are applying for these positions are even qualified. ²

Many of these new roles have a business focus with operational and security budgets increasing to meet more cyber-related business personnel needs. Rates for Big 4 consulting firms and top cyber lawyers run between US$350 and US$1,000 an hour, and boutique cybersecurity rates are between US$200 and US$400 per hour. ³ By 2022, 80% of organizations (up from 30% in 2018) will undergo some level of security organization structure changes due to digitalization.

Organizations often struggle to find appropriate reporting structures and responsibilities between privacy, compliance, security, and risk management functions. A new position is emerging to reduce the disparity that organizations are facing. Since cyber risk is the #1 business issue, enterprise security and risk management functions must address cyber needs from the top down. This new position called the Digital Asset Risk Officer requires domain knowledge across digital assets, security, risk, compliance, legal, and privacy to manage the firm's overall digital asset risk.