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As the volume of cyber security attacks continues to grow around the world, an interesting factor is becoming apparent: many are the work of teenagers.
Motivated by anything from potential financial reward to gaining notoriety among their peers, these young cyber criminals are out to pit their skills and knowledge of cloud platforms against in-house IT security teams. Increasingly, they’re coming out on top.
The trend is causing growing numbers of organisations to rethink their hiring policies when it comes to security professionals. Many now believe that the most effective way to bolster skill levels is to recruit younger people.
Such a shift in hiring policies might also help organisations overcome the challenges associated with the current skills shortage that is rampant across the security sector. This shortage has not been helped by the significant number of people who opted to exit the workforce or significantly reduce their working hours in the wake of the global pandemic.
This skills shortage comes at a time when the number of high-profile security breaches continues to climb. Having younger people on the team who think differently and are particularly adept at cloud security measures could help to counter this challenge.
Rebalancing security teams
Across the business world, it’s more likely that younger staff will find roles in smaller and start-up companies. Here the corporate culture is likely to be more “youthful” in nature and therefore appealing to younger professionals.
This does not mean, however, that experienced industry veterans should effectively be put out to pasture. Established cyber security professionals can readily collaborate with younger and more eager colleagues and pass on their knowledge and perspectives.
At the same time, older workers can also learn from their more youthful counterparts. They will be much more at home working with newer technologies and can pass many of these skills on to others.
Younger workers also tend to take a different approach to their day-to-day activities. They use technology to solve problems in impromptu ways, often with little process or by not simply following procedures that have been developed over a longer time frame.
They are also likely to be much more comfortable working with cloud platforms and resources. As these increasingly become part of corporate IT infrastructures, having effective security measures in place becomes critical.
This different mindset can also allow newer approaches to be taken to challenges and solutions trialled that perhaps had never before been considered. The result can be improved security and lower levels of risk.
However, while their work may be novel and interesting, it is still likely to lack some maturity. For this reason, older workers will still have a role when it comes to guidance and critical thinking, especially when solving complex business problems.
Older security veterans can learn to walk the line between the old way and the high-speed solutions, thereby creating the most effective SecOps team balance. At the same time, appropriate training can help to further shape the skill sets and approach of younger staff members.
Rethinking traditional career paths
Businesses also need to remember that young security staff may be recruited from outside the traditional IT sector. Those expressing an interest in security may currently be working in other areas, such as customer support, marketing, or administration.
By explaining the opportunities that exist in security and providing suitable training and support, businesses may find they are able to tap into a potentially bountiful source of new talent. This can also remove or reduce the need to poach skills from other organisations.
Rethinking the approach taken to recruiting can quickly deliver some sizable benefits to organisations needing to bolster their IT security resources. Ensuring that young staff members integrate with and work alongside their older colleagues can push these benefits even further.
Consider how attracting and retaining larger numbers of youthful workers could help your organisation overcome its IT security challenges.
Rohan Langdon is the area vice president, Australia and New Zealand, at ExtraHop.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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