How to Fix the Cybersecurity Skills Shortage in 2026

The cybersecurity skills shortage is the widening gap between the number of cyber roles organisations need to fill and the available professionals with the right technical, regulatory and soft skills. It is particularly acute in the US and Europe, where regulation and threat levels are high. The problem won’t disappear by 2026, but US and European organisations can materially reduce risk by combining structured workforce development, realistic hiring, targeted automation and trusted partners such as MSSPs and specialised consulting firms.

Introduction

The cybersecurity skills shortage is a persistent global gap between the number of qualified security professionals and the demand from organisations, especially in the US and Europe. That gap shows up as higher breach risk, higher operating costs and stalled digital transformation if leaders don’t act.

According to ISC2’s 2024 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, there are about 5.5 million people working in cybersecurity worldwide and an estimated gap of roughly 4.8 million additional professionals needed, a ~19% increase in one year. Across North America and Europe alone, the shortfall runs into hundreds of thousands of roles from security operations center (SOC) staffing in New York and London to cloud and OT security in Berlin and Amsterdam.

At the same time, ransomware, AI-enabled attacks and regulatory pressure (GDPR/DSGVO, UK-GDPR, NIS2, HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2) keep ramping up. ENISA’s 2024 State of Cybersecurity in the Union report calls out skills and talent shortages as a core structural weakness across EU member states.

From “skills gap” to “talent shortage”: what the terms really mean

You’ll hear several phrases in this space, and they don’t always mean the same thing:

Skills gap people are in roles but lack specific capabilities (e.g., cloud incident response or NIS2 reporting).

Skills shortage there simply aren’t enough people available with cybersecurity skills to fill open roles.

Talent gap combines both: not enough people, and the ones you do have may lack emerging skills (AI security, OT/ICS, zero trust).

In practice, CIOs and CISOs in Washington D.C., London or Munich experience all three at once: difficulty hiring, rising salaries and teams stretched thin in areas like identity security and SOC monitoring.

Snapshot 2025/2026: how big is the global cyber workforce shortage?

Recent data points to a record shortfall:

ISC2 estimates a global gap of ~4.8 million cybersecurity professionals, with the largest relative increases in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

One analysis based on CyberSeek data suggests over 1.1 million cybersecurity job openings in the US alone in 2024, with cyber roles growing about 2.4x faster than the overall job market.

For boards in New York, Paris or Frankfurt, this isn’t an abstract HR statistic  it’s a direct constraint on their ability to implement zero trust, defend against ransomware and manage AI-related risks. (For a deeper dive into modern threats, see Mak It Solutions’ piece on ransomware trends in 2025.)

Why US and European organisations are hit hardest

US and European organisations are hit particularly hard because.

Regulation is tight and getting tighter GDPR/DSGVO, UK-GDPR, NIS2, HIPAA, PCI DSS, BaFin and BSI guidance all demand robust controls and documented skills.

Digital transformation is advanced cloud, SaaS, OT/ICS and AI are deeply embedded in critical sectors like healthcare, finance, manufacturing and government.

Attackers focus where the money is the US, UK, France, Germany and the Nordics are frequent targets of ransomware, supply-chain attacks and data theft.

As a result, CISOs in London, Berlin or Austin often compete with big tech and global banks for the same limited pool of cyber talent driving up salaries and burnout, especially in SOC and incident response teams.

What Is the Cybersecurity Skills Shortage?

The cybersecurity skills shortage is the gap between the number of cybersecurity roles employers need to fill and the available professionals with the right technical, regulatory and soft skills to do the work. It shows up as unfilled vacancies, overstretched teams and projects delayed because there’s nobody to own the controls.

Core definitions: skills shortage vs. skills gap vs. talent gap

From a workforce planning perspective:

A cybersecurity skills shortage means you can’t hire enough people at any price in your market.

A cybersecurity skills gap means your existing workforce lacks key competencies (e.g., AWS security, Kubernetes hardening, incident handling).

A cybersecurity talent gap blends both issues plus pipeline concerns—too few students, mid-career switchers and apprentices entering the field.

This is why cyber workforce development is becoming a board topic in US and European enterprises, not just an HR footnote. Leaders must treat cyber like finance or legal: a profession you invest in over decades.

Global cybersecurity skills shortage statistics and latest reports

The latest global picture looks like this:

ISC2’s 2024 study reports 5.5 million practitioners worldwide but a gap of around 4.8 million, meaning nearly half of the ideal workforce is missing.

ENISA’s 2024 State of Cybersecurity in the Union and related analysis highlight skills shortage as one of Europe’s top systemic cyber risks.

UK government research finds hundreds of thousands of UK businesses lack basic cyber skills and around 390,000 face gaps in more advanced capabilities such as penetration testing.

Complementary studies from ISACA and local bodies in Germany, France and the Netherlands tell a similar story: demand rising faster than supply, particularly in cloud, AI and OT security.

Business impact: breaches, downtime and stalled digital transformation

The cybersecurity skills shortage isn’t just about unfilled headcount. It impacts:

Breach likelihood and cost analyses referencing IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach research suggest that organisations with significant security staff shortages can see breach costs over $1.5–1.8M higher than better-staffed peers.

Digital transformation timelines  if you can’t staff cloud security, DevSecOps or zero trust projects, your SAP migration, Open Banking launch or AI rollouts will slow down.

Regulatory exposure under GDPR/DSGVO, NIS2 or HIPAA, regulators will ask who owns certain controls; “we couldn’t hire anyone” rarely helps in enforcement discussions.

Mak It Solutions covers this intersection of cyber risk and transformation in guides such as Top CIO Priorities 2025: AI, Cybersecurity, Modernization & Talent.

How Big Is the Cybersecurity Talent Gap in the US?

In the United States, estimates show a significant shortfall in cyber professionals across SOC operations, cloud security and government roles, with hundreds of thousands of open positions and rising. Even with strong salaries, many roles stay open for months and overworked teams struggle to cover 24/7 operations.

US cybersecurity workforce shortage.

CyberSeek, which aggregates US cyber workforce data using the NIST NICE framework, shows.

Around 514,000 cybersecurity job postings as of mid-2025, against a much smaller pool of qualified workers.

NIST summarises CyberSeek data as showing roughly 265,000 additional workers still required to meet current US demand.

In practice, that means SOC analyst roles in New York, cloud security architect roles in Austin and incident responders for federal agencies in Washington D.C. often compete for the same candidates.

Sector hotspots: federal, state, healthcare, finance and critical infrastructure

The US talent gap is especially visible in.

Federal and state government agencies implementing zero trust and modern logging under US cyber strategies must staff new roles quickly while competing with Silicon Valley.

Healthcare (HIPAA) hospitals and insurers modernising EHR, telehealth and AI diagnostics need HIPAA-aware security architecture and incident response skills.

Finance and fintech (PCI DSS, SOC 2) banks in New York or Chicago and payments providers in San Francisco must protect real-time systems under intense regulatory and fraud pressure.

Critical infrastructure and OT/ICS energy, transport and manufacturing organisations increasingly need OT security engineers to protect industrial control systems.

If you’re running one of these environments, have a look at Mak It Solutions’ coverage on AI in cybersecurity for how automation can relieve pressure on scarce human talent.

Salary pressure, burnout and SOC staffing challenges

US organisations have responded with higher salaries and bonuse but money hasn’t fixed the problem:

Round-the-clock SOC work leads to alert fatigue and burnout, pushing experienced analysts toward consulting or vendor roles.

Unrealistic job descriptions (e.g., “10 years of Kubernetes security” for a nine-year-old technology) keep candidates out.

Limited entry paths mean many roles ask for experience that early-career talent cannot yet have.

The result: security operations center staffing remains a permanent headache, even as AI begins to handle some tier-1 triage.

How the US Is Addressing the Cybersecurity Skills Shortage

The US is responding through the NIST NICE workforce framework, federal and DoD initiatives, community college and bootcamp programs, and incentives for private-sector training and hiring. None of these are silver bullets, but together they’re starting to create more structured cyber career paths.

NIST NICE cybersecurity workforce framework and federal initiatives

The NIST NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework defines standard roles, tasks and knowledge areas for the cyber profession, giving employers a shared language for job descriptions, curricula and certifications. Agencies such as CISA and DoD use NICE to.

Map their existing workforce.

Identify gaps in roles like incident responder, cyber operator or cloud security architect.

Align training and certifications to mission needs.

Complementary initiatives include DoD cyber workforce programs, CISA scholarships and federal funding for state-level cyber workforce development in areas like critical infrastructure.

US cyber workforce development: community colleges, bootcamps and reskilling

Across the US, community colleges, universities and bootcamps are launching cybersecurity education and training programs:

1–2-year associate degrees aligned to NICE roles.

Intensive bootcamps geared to SOC analyst or junior pentester positions.

Mid-career reskilling programs for IT staff or veterans.

For many employers, the most realistic path is to hire talent from these programs into junior roles, then build a cyber talent pipeline with structured on-the-job learning and certification support (e.g., Security+, CC, CISSP, GIAC).

How US employers are closing the gap: training budgets, apprenticeships and MSSPs

Pragmatic US organisations blend

Bigger training budgets funding certifications and lab time for internal staff.

Apprenticeships and graduate schemes –pairing juniors with senior engineers on real projects.

Managed security partners (MSSPs/SOC-as-a-Service) offloading 24/7 monitoring and initial triage while keeping strategy in-house.

This hybrid approach is where consulting firms like Mak It Solutions often come in: handling complex projects (e.g., zero trust, AI risk management) while your internal teams focus on governance and business alignment. For example, their Zero Trust security guide is frequently used as a blueprint by overstretched US and European teams.

The Cybersecurity Skills Gap in Europe, the UK and Germany

Across Europe, including the EU, UK and Germany, organisations face a severe shortage of qualified cybersecurity experts, amplified by new regulations like NIS2, GDPR/DSGVO and sector-specific rules. Demand is rising faster than universities and training programs can supply new talent.

Europe-wide trends: ENISA data and EU Cybersecurity Skills Academy

ENISA’s reporting shows that skills and talent shortages are now a top threat to Europe’s cyber resilience, especially for SMEs that lack in-house expertise. [VERIFY LIVE] ([ENISA][2]) To address this, the EU Cybersecurity Skills Academy aims to coordinate training, upskilling and reskilling initiatives across the bloc, with a common framework for roles and curricula based on the European Cybersecurity Skills Framework.

At the same time, the EU is investing around €1.3 billion in AI, cybersecurity and digital skills for 2025–2027 via the Digital Europe Programme.

NCSC/DCMS reports and post-Brexit cyber skills strategy

In the UK, the NCSC and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT, previously DCMS) track cyber skills through annual labour-market studies. The 2024 report estimates that hundreds of thousands of UK businesses lack basic cyber skills, and advanced skills gaps remain a serious issue, even as some metrics improve year-on-year.

UK policy responses include.

NCSC-certified degree programs and training providers.

Cyber security apprenticeships in regions like London, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Regional cyber clusters to connect employers with education providers.

With “highly significant” cyber incidents up around 50% over the last year, NCSC leadership is urging boards across FTSE 350 companies to treat cyber skills as a strategic risk, not just an IT issue.

Germany and DACH.

Germany and the broader DACH region face a particularly acute IT-Sicherheit Fachkräftemangel:

Bitkom and other studies report over 130,000–140,000 unfilled IT positions in Germany, with security and cloud among the hardest-hit areas.

ISC2 estimates around 120,000 missing cybersecurity experts in Germany alone, highlighting the gap between regulatory ambition and staffing reality.

Supervisors such as BaFin and BSI expect financial institutions and critical infrastructure operators to demonstrate robust cyber capabilities, but mid-sized banks in Frankfurt or insurers in Munich often struggle to staff specialised roles like NIS2 compliance officers or OT security engineers.

How Europe Is Addressing the Cybersecurity Talent Shortage

Europe is combining EU-level initiatives, national skills programs and public-private partnerships to grow cyber talent through universities, academies, apprenticeships and cross-border hiring. The aim is not just more people, but a coherent cyber workforce across the single market.

NIS2, GDPR/DSGVO and compliance-driven cyber talent demand

Regulation is a double-edged sword: it increases staffing pressure, but it also creates budget and clarity. In practice:

NIS2 pushes operators of essential and important entities (energy, transport, finance, healthcare) to define accountable roles and ensure adequate expertise.

GDPR/DSGVO and UK-GDPR force organisations to blend security and privacy skills, particularly around data protection by design and cross-border data flows.

Sectoral rules from BaFin, the European Central Bank and national health authorities mirror HIPAA-style expectations on logging, monitoring and incident response.

This regulatory stack is a major driver of cybersecurity education and training investment across the EU and UK.

Cybersecurity education programs and academies across Europe

In response, we’re seeing

University programs specialising in cyber, often with ENISA/ECSF-aligned curricula.

European cybersecurity academies and master’s programs partnering with industry to offer practical SOC and incident response experience.

Apprenticeships and reskilling initiatives aimed at IT professionals moving into cloud and security roles.

For example, a Paris-based cloud provider might partner with a local university to create a pipeline of graduates who understand both AWS/Azure security and French/European regulatory context.

Cross-border recruitment, remote SOCs and nearshoring within the EU

Because the talent shortage is uneven geographically, many EU organisations are.

Hiring across borders (e.g., a Dutch bank building a SOC in Portugal or Poland).

Using remote SOC-as-a-Service providers within the EU to meet data residency requirements.

Working with cybersecurity recruitment agencies in Europe that specialise in BaFin, GDPR or NIS2-aware profiles.

This aligns with a broader trend Mak It Solutions sees in its work with EU clients on unstructured data analytics, where cross-country data and security teams collaborate under shared governance models.

Practical Strategies for Organisations to Cope with the Cybersecurity Workforce Shortage

Organisations can blend internal training, smarter hiring, automation and strategic partners like MSSPs and specialised recruiters to manage risk even when hiring is difficult. The goal is not to “solve” the cybersecurity skills shortage overnight, but to build a resilient, adaptable cyber capability.

Build an internal cyber talent pipeline with training and certifications

Start by treating your cyber team like a product you’re building:

Map current skills against frameworks like NICE or ECSF.

Design progression paths from helpdesk or sysadmin into junior SOC, cloud security or GRC roles.

Fund cybersecurity certification programs (Security+, CC, CISSP, CISM, GIAC) alongside labs and hands-on projects.

Partner with US community colleges, UK universities or German Fachhochschulen to create internship paths.

Mak It Solutions has written extensively about talent-focused security strategies in pieces like Closing the Cybersecurity Talent Gap in MENA for GCC; many of the workforce design patterns translate well to US and European contexts too. ([Mak it Solutions][21])

MSSPs, SOC-as-a-Service and recruitment agencies in US & Europe

Given the depth of the gap, most organisations will need partners:

MSSPs and SOC-as-a-Service to run 24/7 monitoring and first-line incident response.

Specialised recruitment agencies for scarce roles like OT security, AI security or NIS2 compliance.

Consulting partners such as Mak It Solutions to design architectures, governance and automation that reduce manual workload (e.g., building an AI-assisted SOC leveraging patterns from AI in cybersecurity and generative AI security risks in the workplace).

The key is to stay in control of strategy and risk appetite while partners provide execution capacity.

Designing attractive roles: career paths, hybrid work and diversity initiatives

Finally, you need to win the talent you target.

Create clear, realistic job descriptions with apprenticeship-level roles.

Offer hybrid or remote work where possible, especially for SOC and engineering roles outside classified government environments.

Invest in diversity and inclusion women, career switchers and underrepresented communities remain an untapped source of cyber talent in both the US and Europe.

Align cyber roles with mission and impact; many candidates care deeply about societal value (e.g., protecting NHS hospitals or critical infrastructure in Germany).

Articles like Mak It Solutions’ Beyond Firewalls: Human-Centred Cyber Awareness in GCC show how people-centric approaches can transform security culture, not just tooling.

Cybersecurity Workforce Shortage Projections to 2026 and Beyond

By 2026, most forecasts suggest the cybersecurity skills shortage will remain significant, but organisations that invest early in structured workforce development will gain a clear resilience and compliance advantage. AI will reshape, not remove, the need for skilled humans.

Emerging skills: cloud, AI security, OT/ICS and zero trust

Three capability clusters will dominate demand.

Cloud and DevSecOps securing AWS, Azure and Google Cloud platforms, containers and CI/CD pipelines. (See Mak It’s comparison of AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud for architecture context.)

AI and data security defending AI models, LLMs and data pipelines from prompt injection, data leakage and supply-chain risk.

OT/ICS and zero trust extending identity-centric security to factories, energy grids and transport, as mapped in Mak It’s Zero Trust security guide.

How evolving US and EU policies will shape future skills requirements

Expect future skills requirements to be heavily influenced by:

US federal zero trust strategies and sectoral rules for healthcare and finance.

EU-wide enforcement of NIS2, DORA (for financial services) and updated data protection guidance.

National strategies in the UK, Germany, France and the Nordics that link cyber resilience directly to national security and industrial policy.

As regulations tighten, auditors will increasingly ask not just “Do you have a policy?” but “Who is qualified to operate this control?”

KPIs and metrics to track the health of your cyber talent pipeline

To stay ahead, track:

Time to fill critical roles (SOC analyst, cloud security architect, CISO deputies).

Internal promotion rate into cybersecurity positions.

Training and certification completion rates across teams.

Burnout indicators attrition, sick leave, on-call load.

Coverage of key roles vs regulatory expectations (e.g., NIS2 requirement mapping).

These KPIs should sit alongside technical metrics like mean time to detect/respond (MTTD/MTTR) and phishing simulation results.

Key takeaways

The cybersecurity skills shortage is structural and persistent; it won’t vanish with one hiring push.

US and European organisations face extra pressure from stringent regulations and a high threat environment.

Cyber workforce development must become a long-term, cross-functional initiative, not just ad-hoc training.

Blending internal talent pipelines, automation, MSSPs and specialist consultancies is often the most resilient model.

Early movers who invest in people, not just tools, will be in a much stronger position by 2026.

How specialised training and consulting partners can help you close the gap

Partners can help you

Design cyber job families and career paths aligned to NICE/ECSF.

Prioritise where to automate (AI-assisted SOC, attack surface management) versus where to hire.

Build pragmatic roadmaps for zero trust, ransomware defence and AI security that match your actual staffing levels.

Mak It Solutions already works with clients in the US, UK, Germany and across Europe on exactly these questions from strategy and architecture through to implementation and knowledge transfer.

First 90 days to stabilise your cybersecurity workforce

Over the next 90 days, you can.

Map your current workforce inventory roles, skills and responsibilities against frameworks like NICE/ECSF.

Identify critical gaps prioritise by business risk (e.g., SOC coverage, cloud security, incident response).

Stabilise operations plug immediate gaps using MSSPs or SOC-as-a-Service while you hire and train.

Launch a training plan fund key certifications, labs and mentoring for high-potential internal staff.

Align leadership ensure CISOs, HR and business leaders share a single view of the cyber workforce strategy.

From there, you can move into a 12–24-month plan that treats cyber talent as a core asset, not a perpetual emergency.

If you’re a CISO, CIO or HR leader in the US, UK or EU trying to navigate the cybersecurity skills shortage, you don’t have to solve it alone. Mak It Solutions can help you map your current cyber workforce, prioritise gaps and design a practical mix of training, automation and external support.

Start by sharing your current challenges and target markets, and we’ll help you scope a focused, outcome-driven engagement that strengthens both your security posture and your talent pipeline.( Click Here’s )

FAQs

Q : Is the cybersecurity skills shortage the same problem as the “IT skills gap”?
A : Not exactly. The general IT skills gap covers broad digital capabilities (cloud, data, software engineering), while the cybersecurity skills shortage is specifically about protecting systems, data and critical infrastructure. Cyber roles often require deeper regulatory knowledge (GDPR/DSGVO, NIS2, HIPAA, PCI DSS) and 24/7 operational readiness, which makes them harder to fill than many IT positions. However, good IT fundamentals still provide a strong base for reskilling into cyber.

Q : How long does it take to retrain into a cybersecurity role in the US or Europe?
A : Most mid-career professionals can move into junior cyber roles within 6–18 months, depending on their starting point and the intensity of training. In the US, community colleges and bootcamps can take someone from basic IT experience to SOC analyst level in under a year. In the UK, apprenticeships and NCSC-aligned degrees provide similar on-ramps, while in Germany and other EU countries, Fachhochschule programs and academies offer 1–2-year pathways. The shortest transitions typically combine formal learning with hands-on lab work and mentoring.

Q : Are cybersecurity bootcamps and fast-track programs really effective for filling junior roles?
A : They can be, if you treat them as the beginning of a journey, not the full solution. Good bootcamps focus on practical skills like log analysis, scripting, basic threat hunting and incident response, aligned to frameworks such as NICE or ECSF. Graduates are usually ready for supervised junior roles in SOCs or security engineering teams. To get real value, employers must pair bootcamp hires with structured on-the-job training, clear progression paths and time to pursue certifications and advanced skills.

Q : How can small and mid-sized businesses compete for cybersecurity talent against big tech and banks?
A : Smaller organisations in the US, UK or EU rarely win on salary alone, but they can compete on scope, flexibility and purpose. That means offering broad, interesting roles (not narrow silos), remote or hybrid work where possible, and clear impact on business or community outcomes. Many SMBs combine 1–2 in-house security leaders with strong MSSP relationships, giving staff both strategic influence and access to modern tooling. Investing early in training and culture can make your environment more attractive than a high-pay, low-autonomy job at a large bank.

Q : What is the best mix of certifications and hands-on experience for new cybersecurity hires?
A : For entry-level hires, a combination of foundational certifications (e.g., CompTIA Security+, ISC2 CC, or equivalent European certifications) and lab-based experience usually works best. As professionals progress, role-specific certs such as CISSP, CISM, GIAC or cloud provider security badges (AWS, Azure, GCP) become more important. However, certifications should always be backed by hands-on exposure: working in a SOC, building security controls into CI/CD, participating in incident response or red-team exercises. Most US and European employers now treat certs as a signal, not a substitute, for real-world experience.