SecOps Talent: The Elusive Unicorn of IT

Throughout history there have been tales of mythical creatures that come to the hero’s aid just when he needs them most, enabling him to overcome incredible obstacles and foes. If we were to rewrite these tales for a modern business audience, the incredible obstacle would be the increasing number of cyberattacks hurled at businesses every day, the foe a faceless entity behind a computer screen, and the mythical beast would be the cybersecurity professional who charges in to save the day.

Unfortunately, for most of us, this is just a fairy tale. The bad guys and the cyberthreats they create really exist. But where is the magical creature to save us?

The shift to hybrid work has created an unprecedented amount of attack surfaces for cybercriminals to exploit. In fact, 83% of IT leaders point to maintaining strong cybersecurity for their hybrid workforce as their biggest challenge for 2022 and beyond.

As cyberthreats escalate, businesses across the globe are on the hunt for the elusive creature known as the Security Operations (SecOps) professional. With ever-increasing need to thwart ransomware and breaches, but without a pool of ready-and-willing candidates to power security operations centers (SOCs), businesses find themselves at a loss.

The story behind the legend

Traditionally, security and IT operations were siloed departments, both with their own focus areas and responsibilities. This “separate but equal” model made it difficult to identify and defend against cyberthreats, or in the case of attacks, mitigate them. As cyberattacks became more sophisticated and more prevalent, these two business silos found it was better for business to work together. Hence, the advent of SecOps, a combination of security and IT operations.

Why they’re so hard to find

The lack of skilled SecOps talent couldn’t come at a worse time. The number of cyberattacks in just the first half of 2022 increased 62% year-over-year. However, the unemployment rate for cybersecurity professionals is 0%. So, where are all the SecOps?

Retired or retiring

Baby boomers, that first technology generation and the most skilled and experienced IT workers are slated to retire by 2030. Though following generations may have a wealth of tech savvy, many lack the advanced skills required to backfill these positions.

Stressed out

As cyberthreats escalate so does the pressure on SecOps. A recent survey found that 45% of cybersecurity professionals are considering quitting their jobs due to stress. Along with those retiring, this could create a cybersecurity crisis.

Wanting more

For those SecOp professionals who are in the prime of their careers, the competitive job market is in their favor. Many employers aren’t able to meet demands for salaries and benefits and often lose out to large corporations with greater resources. In a survey conducted by Info-Tech Research Group, 59% of IT leaders report that security expertise is the #1 hardest skillset to find.

Require remote

Other than salary and benefits, in-demand SecOps personnel are wanting to work remotely without the rigidity of 9-5. This can be very difficult for organizations that either lack remote work capabilities or have rigid working hours, especially when the companies themselves are in remote locations.

Leveling up is not enough

Let’s say you decide to go the in-house route when it comes to SecOps. You’re ready to invest in your team and spend the money to have them level-up their skillsets. This is going to take longer than a weekend course. This is higher level education—Associate to Master’s degree—and a wealth of industry certifications. Then comes the experience which takes years to hone. Even if you have the money to invest, you really don’t have the time. Other challenges of relying on an in-house SecOps team include:

• Expensive learning curve as new employees take time to settle in and master your environment, often trespassing on other departments.
• Lack of expertise as ill-qualified techs recommend and adopt new technologies that aren’t thoroughly vetted and fall short of expectations which could costing you.
• Limited data set of having only one perspective, that of your business circumstances, instead of proven best practices tested across a variety of companies and industries. 
• Settling for what’s available instead of getting what you really want to ensure your business is protected inside and out.

By 2025, Gartner predicts 50% of organizations will be using outsourced Cybersecurity services to monitor, detect, contain, and remediate incidents.

Get real help

Outsourcing your cybersecurity to an experienced partner provides you with a wealth of benefits:

• Puts you back in charge instead of wasting time hunting for talent and dealing with turnover.
• Removes the tremendous strain and frees up in-house talent to do other core IT functions.
• Enables you to operate securely thanks to automation and integration without hiring more staff.
• Provides greater transparency and control over security with resources focused on end-to-end protection.
• Enables quicker and more effective response times across all surfaces to stop threats and mitigate damage.
• Expands protection with threat intel from multiple sources, and experts who are proactive in preventing, patching, and detecting threats.
• Gives you access to additional resources, both in the event of an incident and as your business and data scales.
• Saves you millions of dollars in legal costs, reputational damage, customer churn, and business disruption.
• Decreases the impact of a breach, including monetary costs, employee morale, your brand’s reputation.
• Reduces operational expenses of maintaining security tech because outsourced SOC will take care of the equipment and tools for you.

Security managed

Keeping your business secured can be tricky. Wouldn’t you feel more protected with a herd of unicorns on your side, instead of one—if you could even find it? That’s what it’s like when you partner with Procellis for your SOC.

The Procellis team acts as an extension of your team to manage, detect, and respond to security threats. Our security specialists can:

• Alleviate the pain and frustration of finding and attracting qualified talent
• Reduce the strain on overtaxed IT departments
• Minimize threats and quickly manage security incidents
• Help leaders identify security priorities to implement systems and business policies
• Augment and enhance your SecOps team or totally manage security operations
• Expand 24/7 security with expert, battle-tested SecOps heros on the watch.

Procellis is a CMMC-RPO-registered organization with a culture of continued education and career advancement in cybersecurity. Our systems are designed with integration and automation in mind, making it easy for us to plug into your pre-existing systems and workflows, making businesses operations more agile, reducing the need for additional staff, and weaving security measures into all points of your operations.

80% of the Procellis staff are certified engineers with expertise in cybersecurity and extensive real-world experience.

Writing our own story

Procellis isn’t just focused on solving the SecOps talent shortage of today. While analysts forecast that this gap will be around for at least the next several years, we’re taking measures to rewrite the story. We have implemented internal talent development programs that give a clear path to career advancement through continuing education opportunities.

Our Apprentice and Journey Worker programs expand and advance internal talent to keep pace with customer needs.

• Engage underrepresented members of the community who have fewer resources/access to training to close the skills gap and boost the economic health of those communities. 
• We recruit talent from HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and local technology schools, providing on-the-job training in apprentice-chosen trajectories such as Engineering, Development, and Project Management within the cybersecurity realm.

With our team on your side, there’s no need for magical creatures. We make our own magic, and we make it work for you. Find out how you can enhance your cybersecurity protection with the Procellis team. Book a discovery meeting today.