Cybersecurity Roundup: Cynet, Defendify-PSA, eSentire-CrowdStrike and Asigra

If you’re a cybersecurity professional and your New Year’s resolution is getting a new job, there are a lot of things to keep in mind in terms of opportunities and pay.

Cynet has released the results of its 2019 survey of cybersecurity professionals, examining pay rates measured against employee achievements, education, skills and more. More than 1,300 participants from diverse industries globally participated in the survey, which was administered this quarter.

Yiftach Keshet, Cynet‘s director of product marketing, tells us one of the drivers of the survey was to gain more detailed insight into what may be limiting qualified candidates from potential job opportunities.

“What the survey showed is that, indeed, there are certain employee attributes that could be reducing the qualified pool of potential employees,” he said.

For cybersecurity professionals planning post-holiday job searches, there should be a focus not just on education, but actual skills in order to differentiate a cybersecurity candidate’s capabilities from potentially competitive applicants, Keshet said.

“As having high-value skill sets were more closely related to higher compensation, the data justifies security professionals continually building upon their knowledge base,” he said.

The data backs detailed salary profiles for five popular security positions: security analyst, threat intelligence specialist, securitycloud security architect, penetration tester and security directormanager.

Among the findings:

• Security analysts in North America get significantly higher salary than in EMEA and APAC, with more than 80% earning between $71,000 and $110,000. In contrast, less than 35% in EMEA and 21% in APAC earn equivalent salaries.
• All analyzed positions feature similar salary range distributions for both employees with or without a degree in computer science or a related engineering field.
• Banking and finance provide the highest salaries in the industry, for both strategic management and tactical positions.
• Individuals were analyzed across all positions; quality professionals with little experience were at the top of the payment curve, while seasoned veterans were at the bottom.
• Individuals that pivoted from an IT occupation to a cybersecurity position earned more than their peers who started out in cybersecurity.
• With the exception of security analysts, all other positions included periodic bonuses with annual rates ranging from 1%-10%.
• There is a significant shortage of women in security positions, with the highest percentage in the 20-29 age group with 6% in overall positions.
• Within the five analyzed positions, the highest percentage of women were found in the security director/manager position at a rate of 10%.

“The No. 1 most surprising finding was that a cybersecurity professional’s portfolio of skills was of equal or more importance when it comes to earning higher wages,” Keshet said.

The data provides average, low and above average rates of pay as they relate to the IT security position they are assigned to, which will help security providers to better align their pay structures so that they are in a better competitive position to attract and retain talent, he said.

“Whether under the title of CISO, director of security or even CIO, one cannot protect their organization single-handedly,” said Eyal Gruner, Cynet’s…