The cybersecurity boom hiding a growing privacy skills shortage
The cybersecurity boom hiding a growing privacy skills shortage
https://www.techradar.com/pro/the-cybersecurity-boom-hiding-a-growing-privacy-skills-shortage
Publish Date: 2026-04-07 05:31:00
Source Domain: www.techradar.com
High-profile breaches have forced privacy firmly onto the boardroom agenda. According to recent research from Nardello, more than four in ten business leaders are concerned about the reputational impact of a cyber incident.
Their concern is justified.
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Chris Dimitriadis
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Chief Global Strategy Officer of ISACA.
Socura’s analysis of the Office for National Statistics’ Annual Population Survey shows there are now 83,700 cybersecurity professionals in the UK, up from 28,500 in 2021. That 194% increase suggests rapid progress, but headcount growth alone does not guarantee preparedness.
In fact, a report from the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology shows that in 2025, nearly half (49%) of businesses in the UK labor market had a basic skills gap.
If the right skills are not being developed at the same rate as emerging threats, or if critical functions such as privacy remain under resourced within organizations, workforce expansion risks masking deeper structural gaps.
Failure to invest is failure to protect
Cyberattacks affecting the Foreign Office, Asahi, the NHS and Jaguar Land Rover over the last 12 months have exposed vulnerabilities across both public and private sectors.
Crucially, they show that gaps in cybersecurity and privacy capability are not limited to smaller or resource-constrained organizations; even well-established institutions are struggling to keep pace.
The strain on privacy teams is significant. More than a quarter (26%) of privacy professionals say their board is failing to adequately prioritize privacy, despite escalating threats. Nearly four in ten (39%) legal privacy teams and over half (51%) of technical…
