Cyber security jobs news roundup: August 2023

Keep up-to-date with some of the biggest stories in the world of cyber security in our monthly roundup.

We’re rounding up some of the biggest cyber security stories of the past few weeks. In August, the UK tech workforce surpassed two million,  the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) announced a new change to its Cyber Incident Response scheme, the threat posed by generative AI could lead to more jobs and British companies were urged to strengthen their cyber security defence measures.

UK tech workforce continues to grow

Over two million people are now employed in the UK’s technology workforce, according to research from CompTIA. This represents a one per cent increase from 2022, whilst growth is expected to continue throughout the year as 17,000 new roles could be created.

Jason Moss, CompTIA’s vice president for global business development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, commented: “New employment opportunities continue to emerge as our reliance on technology grows.”

The tech industry makes up roughly 5.5 per cent of the total UK economy, with an annual economic impact of £82.6 billion. Five cities boast a higher concentration of net tech employment than the national average, including London, Leeds and Edinburgh.

NCSC bolsters its Cyber Incident Response scheme

The NCSC has added a new level to its Cyber Incident Response (CIR) scheme. Now, organisations will be designated either ‘Level 1’ or ‘Level 2’, meaning that more businesses will be able to offer assured incident response services to a larger number of victim companies in the UK.

Any ‘Level 1’ organisation will now be able to manage “all types of cyber incidents for all types of organisations.” Meanwhile, ‘Level 2’ providers will be “capable of supporting most organisations with common cyber attacks, such as ransomware.”

These changes aim to assure a high level of service for any organisation affected by threat actors. Chris Ensor, NCSC deputy director of growth, noted: “The NCSC badge will give confidence that the company they use has the right expertise to help them.”

Generative AI threats could open more cyber security jobs

The use of generative AI has led to a significant rise in cyber crime globally in the last 12 months, according to Deep Instinct’s latest Voice of SecOps report. The study also highlighted that increasing pressure to combat the threat of ransomware is causing organisations to reconsider their data security approaches.

Generative AI is seen as a serious risk to cyber security, with 75 per cent of respondents claiming to have witnessed more attacks this year and 85 per cent attributing this to criminals using generative AI for malicious activities.

The report comes amid growing concerns about the cyber security implications of generative AI and highlights the need for well-equipped, talented experts to combat the risks posed by advances in technology.

British organisations encouraged to bolster digital resilience

UK organisations should follow mitigation advice and sign up for the Early Warning service, states a new joint advisory from the NCSC and several other agencies globally. Also highlighted were the top 12 most-exploited vulnerabilities in 2022.

Additionally, the advisory offers technical details about 30 other commonly exploited vulnerabilities, with risk management strategies to support organisations to bolster their own digital defences.

Jonathon Ellison, NCSC director of resilience and future technology, said: “We encourage organisations to apply all security updates promptly and call on software vendors to ensure security is at the core of their product design and shift the burden of responsibility away from consumers.”