Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have a cybersecurity knowledge gap 

The impacts SMEs worry about the most are the increased risk of cyber-attacks, ransomware and being unable to operate their business. For example, 34% of SMEs say they are concerned about a lack of skilled cyber expertise increasing the risk of cyber-attacks. For smaller businesses, the costs of handling and recovering from these kinds of threats could be crippling.

Closing the cyber knowledge gap to reduce the risks is vital. It’s also a major challenge for SMEs, given that cyber skills and talent are in high demand. Despite the global cybersecurity workforce growing 8.7% to 5.5 million people between 2022 and 2023, four million additional professionals are still needed to adequately safeguard digital assets.⁽²⁾

Unfortunately, the threats won’t wait. As cyber-attacks continue to get more sophisticated and harder to detect, more organisations will feel the effects.

In the face of such challenges, what can SMEs do? We believe that applying a cyber lens to the employee offer and experience can help attract cyber skills and talent and start to build a cybersecure culture. With limited budgets for cash incentives and pay, SMEs need to look at the reasons why these highly valued employees join or stay with a particular employer – from a company’s purpose, values and culture to a broader suite of rewards, career path opportunities and benefits.

Size shouldn’t limit your ability to offer stand-out benefits. We help you rival even larger employers by offering more comprehensive benefits than typically available to smaller companies.

Footnotes

(1)   People Risk 2024

(2)  ISC2. “ISC2 reveals growth in global cybersecurity workforce, but record-breaking gap of 4 million cybersecurity professionals looms,” 2023, available at https://www.isc2.org/Insights/2023/10/ISC2-Reveals-Workforce-Growth-But-Record-Breaking-Gap-4-Million-Cybersecurity-Professionals