Changing the landscape of cybersecurity education in the EU: Will the new approach produce the required cybersecurity skills?

Abstract

Recruiting, retaining, and maintaining sufficient numbers of cybersecurity professionals in the workplace is a constant battle, not only for the technical side of cybersecurity, but also for the overlooked area of non-technical, managerial-related jobs in the cyber sector. The problem is the lack of cybersecurity skills in the European labour force. This paper presents the results of a study carried out with the aim to identify how much the cybersecurity education system within the high-level educational institutions and the industrial sector meets the needs for graduate students to gain the required cybersecurity skills. The method applied in the study is based on data collected from surveys carried out by the European competence centres on cybersecurity and the European Cybersecurity organisation. The problem of common educational program accreditation in Europe is highlighted and discussed. The actions undertaken to improve the education in both sectors are described and the emerging educational landscape is commented. The main cybersecurity knowledge specified by the industrial needs is presented in the form of five knowledge pillars. The study’s findings show that there are missing topics in high-level institution’s cybersecurity programs and that that there is a need to re-shape the content of the courses provided by the professional education providers.