Larger organizations have increased their cybersecurity workforce this year. According to Wavestone’s “Cyber Benchmark 2024” report, companies with more than $1 billion in revenue now have one cyber professional per 1,086 employees, up from one per 1,285 employees in 2023.
Financial businesses have been particularly successful in cultivating a strong cybersecurity workforce, with an average of one cyber expert per 267 employees. Industrial groups lag behind, with an average of one cyber expert per 1,390 employees.
The report also found that the overall cyber readiness level of surveyed organizations reached 53%, with some reaching highs of 80% to 90%. Budgets for cybersecurity have stabilized at an average of 6.6% of IT budgets across all sectors.
However, there are still areas where companies struggle, such as third-party security and industrial system security (ICS), which have average maturity levels of 48.9% and 39.9%, respectively.