Some 66 per cent of security teams in the Benelux have shortcomings in AI skills. At the same time, 63 per cent report that AI has reduced the number of security staff. These are the findings of research conducted by Arlington Research on behalf of Barracuda among 2,000 IT and security decision-makers.
Almost all Benelux respondents (95 per cent) report a shortage of cybersecurity skills. The most frequently cited gaps are AI-related risks (66 per cent) and identity and phishing threats (64 per cent), including Business Email Compromise (BEC), OAuth abuse and multi-factor authentication bypass. Barracuda has published the results in the Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report. The report examines how AI, identity-focused attacks and growing digital activity are affecting the workload of security teams.
Expectations exceed capacity
Sixty per cent of Benelux organisations say their teams are struggling to scale to meet changing business needs. According to the report, 42 per cent of organisations expect security professionals to support growing digital activity without additional resources. Forty per cent say the organisation’s expectations exceed the available skills and tools, and 38 per cent say expectations outstrip the available manpower. More than a quarter (27 per cent) say they can only protect the organisation reactively rather than proactively.
AI is changing security roles
According to 85 per cent of Benelux organisations, AI is already affecting security roles or headcount. At 63 per cent, AI has reduced the workforce, with the reductions split evenly between entry-level positions and senior roles. For critical decisions, however, organisations continue to rely on human expertise. More than two thirds (69 per cent) use joint decision-making in incident response: AI supports investigation and analysis, while humans remain responsible for context, judgement and the final decision.
Siroui Mushegian, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Barracuda, says AI is changing the cybersecurity landscape faster than many security teams can build the necessary skills, insights and governance. Mushegian believes organisations need to reshape their teams by combining AI and automation with human expertise and judgement.
Entry-level roles and seniority
Half of Benelux organisations need additional expertise in incident response, decision-making under pressure and risk management. Barracuda expects these shortages to grow if organisations automate entry-level work without clear development paths for new professionals. Mushegian therefore advocates new development paths and more opportunities to gain hands-on experience.
The scope of senior security roles is also broadening. Alongside technical knowledge, knowledge of AI and identity security, an understanding of governance and communication skills are becoming more important as cybersecurity becomes a board-level issue. Six in ten respondents (62 per cent) need skills in strategic security leadership, such as AI governance and translating technical risks into business impact.
Automating operational work
Raynaud Schokkenbroek, Manager Solution Architects Western Europe at Barracuda, says that in practice, security teams in the Benelux are asking less for extra staff than for better visibility, more automation and more efficient processes. According to Schokkenbroek, AI can reduce the flow of operational tasks, giving teams more time for prevention, identity security, compliance, AI governance and incident preparation. He stresses that this is about reducing operational overhead, not replacing people. In his view, AI will not solve the skills shortage, but it does give organisations the opportunity to automate work that should have been automated years ago.
About the research
Arlington Research conducted the survey on behalf of Barracuda among 2,000 mid-level and senior IT and security decision-makers at organisations with 100 to 2,000 employees. The respondents are based in the Benelux, the US, the UK, France, the DACH region, Scandinavia, Australia, India and Japan. The research focused on security skills and capacity challenges over the past twelve months.
The full report is available via the Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report.
This article was originally published in Dutch on MSP Business. Read the original →
