Can cybersecurity survive during recession?

While economic downturns can impact any industry, cybersecurity professionals who are adaptable, practical, and well-prepared should be able to withstand the challenges brought on by a recession.

The benefits of cybersecurity in tough times

Despite the challenges brought on by economic downturns, the cybersecurity industry is expected to remain stable due to two key factors that suggest a full-blown recession is unlikely to have a significant impact on cybersecurity job security and the industry as a whole.

• Businesses are still struggling to find enough skilled cybersecurity talent. Cyber security teams are often understaffed, and it’s rare to find a CEO who believes that their company has too many security personnel.

A recent study by (ISC)2 found that only 4.7 million professionals worldwide were employed in cyber security as of late 2022, leaving 3.4 million positions available. According to the majority of studies, the skill gap in cybersecurity will widen faster than the workforce in the following years, making the problem much worse.

• Cybersecurity continues to be a growing business priority. In larger companies, challenges related to cybersecurity are becoming increasingly important. Almost every company board member considers cybersecurity their number one business priority. With the increasing number of threat vectors and cyber dangers, cybersecurity professionals are needed to thwart the variety and number of cyberattacks, especially as AI and automation become more advanced.

Considering these factors, it is unlikely that a recession would have a significant impact on the macroeconomic security of cyber security jobs.

Cybersecurity and the effects of a recession

The impact of a recession on cyber security cannot be dismissed entirely. It is important to consider the potential effects, such as the following.

New Talent

While it may be somewhat indirect, a recession could potentially impact the labour market for cyber security. For example, a deteriorating economy could encourage professionals from non-security fields to enter the cyber security industry when their job security in their prior professions declines.

Decreased security budgets

Even businesses that manage to stay afloat during a recession have budget constraints. Although almost everyone acknowledges the need for security, it is not always simple to show the return on investment of a given security product or procedure.

The best course of action for security professionals is to create data-driven reports that amply demonstrate the following:

1. Savings in attack mitigation costs.
2. Metrics for containing threats.
3. Metrics for hiring and training.

Security managers are more likely to defend their budgets successfully when they can provide specific and tangible benefits in their reports.

Cloud, machine learning, and AI security technologies are in greater demand.

Security managers would be forced to find ways to accomplish more with less money if budget pressure increased. As a result, in a recession, demand for the following security technologies would probably rise:

Services for security in the cloud.

Enterprises can lower operational expenses and adjust spending up or down as needed by outsourcing some security services to independent cloud providers. For instance, more businesses are switching from Microsoft’s on-premises Active Directory to its cloud-based Azure AD managed services, which is a continuing trend.

AI, machine learning, and automation.

The most time-consuming and repetitive cyber security operations can be automated by AI and machine learning products, greatly enhancing a company’s capacity to keep up with emerging threats. Decreasing the impact of continuous staff shortages and giving practitioners more time for higher-value tasks like proactive threat hunting helps security teams.