The CEO of a London-based IT support and services company has called for businesses to 鈥榞row their own鈥� cyber security professionals in order to close the skills gap.
David Webb is CEO of 6point6, which is split into three prongs: digital transformation, emerging technology – including聽artificial intelligence聽–聽and cyber security.
He believes businesses should begin by protecting themselves with outside help, but in the聽long-term聽focus on building an in-house team.
鈥淥ur philosophy has always been that an organisation should be as self-sustaining as humanly possible,鈥� said Webb.
鈥淲here you don’t have a cyber security capability, reaching out to specialist expertise in the short term is a must. Long term, organisations must be investing some money into their own in-house capability.
鈥淭here’s nobody better than your staff in understanding where the business is and protecting the business.鈥�
Webb points to universities as a great source of new talent which can be nurtured to help聽close the skills gap and better protect the聽business in the long run.
鈥淭here are lots of great courses in the universities at the moment pushing cyber security, preparing a lot of young talent coming into the sector,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t’s a great place to start and we’re expecting more of that to be pushed out over the coming years.
鈥淵ou need to take those graduates and give them real-life experience – and that does take a while.鈥�
Webb predicts that a shortage of cyber security professionals could continue for five to 10 years, but businesses with a clear long- and short-term cyber security roadmap are best protected.
鈥淏etween [in-house and external cybersecurity forces] collaborating together, it gives a really valuable weapon in the business’ arsenal,鈥� he said.
The company,聽founded in 2012,聽saw 27 per cent growth last year and has projected 30 per cent growth for the year ahead.
Over the next two years it plans major expansion across all three of its business units.