Why 2021 is the year of cloud security

Demand for cyber security professionals remains high as threats posed by criminal hackers continue to be among the biggest risks for any business. But one area that will need an especially strong focus in the coming months is ensuring firms have the right people in place to protect their cloud deployments.

These technologies have undergone a huge increase in popularity over the last year or so, and as a result, there will be big opportunities for skilled professionals to find jobs in cloud security. 

But why is this the case, and what skills are firms lacking that will lead them to seek out cloud security talent?

The rise in demand for cloud pros

A key factor has been the increase in the number of firms adopting cloud tools over the last 12 months. With the Covid-19 pandemic changing the way many firms work, the cloud offered a compelling option for many businesses as they tried to cope with changes such as remote working.

Indeed, Flexera's 2021 State of the Cloud report revealed nine out of ten companies accelerated their adoption of cloud tools as a direct result of the pandemic, with almost a third of large enterprises (29 per cent) and 34 per cent of smaller firms agreeing their use of cloud was "significantly higher" than previously planned.

What this means is almost every firm now operates at least one cloud service, with the average company using 2.6 public and 2.7 private clouds. Overall, 54 per cent of enterprise workloads are expected to be in the public cloud in 12 months, with 59 percent of advanced users identifying cloud migration as a key initiative for their business.

But with these new deployments comes new challenges, and if businesses don't have skilled security professionals to manage their operations, they'll be leaving themselves at risk.

The growing cloud security gap

As such, there's never been a better time to be a cloud security expert. Indeed, many businesses now recognise that their efforts to grow their cloud environments are outpacing their current security capabilities.

For instance, half of chief information security officers surveyed by Netwrix said their company's desire for fast digital transformation had had a negative effect on their data security.

In particular, it found the biggest problems facing firms when it comes to cloud are a lack of IT staff (cited by 52 per cent of respondents), insufficient budget (47 per cent), and lack of cloud security expertise (44 per cent).

Elsewhere, research by IBM has found that almost one in five data breaches (19 per cent) are caused by misconfigured cloud servers. Therefore, candidates with proven skills and experience in developing and managing cloud systems in a secure way will be needed across all companies.

Roles including cloud security architects and cloud security engineers are particularly highly-sought after, so if you have the right background and certifications, search our latest jobs today for a cloud security career that suits you.