The antisocial geek, living in their parent’s basement with some coding skills from online gaming. This is often the stereotype that we revert to when thinking of cyber criminals. However, although this image may have once been true, it has now been squashed by something bigger, more sophisticated and threatening to your teams’ projects… the cybercrime enterprise.

Annual cybercrime is estimated to reach a global cost of $10.5 trillion USD by 2025. Based on this statistic alone there is an ever-increasing need for the implementation of cyber security practices as well as training to be moved up the priority list in your team.

The skills gap

The Fortinet 2022 Cybersecurity skills gap report stated that globally, 80% of organisations fell victim to at least one security breach attributing back to a lack of cyber security skills and/or awareness. Furthermore, 64% of these breaches in the last year resulted in a loss of revenue and 38% cost more than $1 million USD to resolve.

For several years cybersecurity has been a common concern throughout the world and it does not help when the cybersecurity skills gap continues to widen with the (ISC)² reporting that the global cyber workforce needs to grow 65% to effectively defend organisations against threats. In addition, the AFR has forecasted by 2026, the nation will be 30,000 cyber professionals short as a direct result of the surging amount of attacks including ransoming, fraud, and data theft.  

What needs to be done?

Senior leaders and cyber professionals are now not the only ones that are responsible for cybersecurity practices. Every project manager and team member now need to be responsible for data security of their projects especially project managers. It is vital that every person onboarded to a project team understands potential security threats and is equipped with the tools on how to deal with them as well as their own responsibilities when it comes to security. With proper training and understanding, every team member has the power to act as the first line of defense against potential cyber-attacks.

So, where do we come in?

Avec is able to support your team with cybersecurity throughout your projects by providing thought leadership and consultative services.

If you’re ready to ensure your projects are secure as possible get in touch with the Avec team today.