Why We Need Skilled Cybersecurity Experts — and What It Takes to Be One  

A Widening Gap Between Demand and Supply  

• The shortage of trained cybersecurity professionals in India is acute. Numerous reports suggest that we need nearly 1 million cybersecurity experts, but currently, the number of available professionals is less than half of that. mint+2Mind of Cyber+2

• As digital adoption surges — with cloud computing, AI and IoT becoming mainstream — the attack surface grows. Organisations need robust security now more than ever. The Times of India+2Cyber Secure India+2

• The demand is not just for entry-level staff. Mid-senior roles — security architects, incident response experts, and cloud security engineers — are in especially high demand. For such roles, organisations often struggle to find qualified candidates. The Economic Times+2Communications Today+2

The Cost of Understaffing Cybersecurity  

When companies lack skilled security staff, they often rely on under-qualified personnel or misconfigure tools. This can turn even well-intended security measures into liabilities. According to industry analysts, many Indian organisations remain vulnerable simply because they lack a sufficiently trained workforce. Mind of Cyber+2UMA Technology+2

When we talk about “cybersecurity experts” or “cybersecurity consultants,” we refer to professionals who combine technical mastery with strategic thinking. Their responsibilities typically include:

• Designing secure systems and architectures — ensuring networks, cloud platforms, and applications are configured securely from the ground up.

• Conducting vulnerability assessments and penetration testing — proactively simulating attacks to identify weaknesses before malicious actors exploit them.

• Incident detection and response — monitoring for threats, analysing alerts, and acting swiftly to contain breaches.

• Risk assessment and compliance — evaluating cyber risks, ensuring adherence to regulatory/compliance requirements, and guiding organisations on policies and controls.

• Security consulting and advisory — working with stakeholders to build long-term cybersecurity strategies, and bridging the gap between technical teams and business leadership.

To be effective — especially in a demanding environment like India’s — cybersecurity professionals need a strong foundation in multiple technical areas. Some of the most critical domains include:

• Network security: Understanding firewalls, VPNs, IDS/IPS systems, and secure network architectures. ABC Money+1

• Cloud security: As organisations migrate to cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), ensuring data protection, access controls, and secure configuration becomes essential. ABC Money+1

• Ethical hacking / Penetration testing: Ability to think like an attacker — ethical hackers help organisations find vulnerabilities before bad actors do. ABC Money+2The Economic Times+2

• Cryptography & Data protection: Securing data at rest and in motion, managing encryption, ensuring confidentiality and integrity. ABC Money+1

• Incident response & forensics: Detecting, investigating, and responding to security incidents. This includes log analysis, threat intelligence, and forensic techniques. Data Security Council of India+2mint+2

• Regulatory knowledge & compliance: Understanding laws, regulations applicable to data protection, privacy, and governance frameworks. Data Security Council of India+1

• Security auditing & governance: Regular assessments, audits, policy-making, compliance checks, security posture reviews. Data Security Council of India+1

• Soft skills + adaptability: Critical thinking, problem-solving, communication skills — often cited as equally important as technical skills. CIO Insider+2Communications Today+2

From our experience, and from what the industry tells us, the best cybersecurity professionals combine technical skills with the following attributes:

• Curiosity & Security Mindset: Not everyone with “certified training” makes a good security consultant. You need a mindset that asks — What if this fails? Where could an attacker break in? — to anticipate and mitigate unseen risks. As one consulting leader put it: “Security is an attitude.” The Economic Times+1

• Problem-solving & Critical Thinking: Many security issues are not black-and-white. Consultants must navigate ambiguous threats, prioritise risks, and balance security with usability. CIO Insider+1

• Communication & Collaboration: Security doesn’t live in a silo. Professionals must communicate with developers, managers, and leadership — translating technical risks into business language. CIO Insider+1

• Adaptability and Continuous Learning: As technologies evolve — cloud, AI, distributed systems — so do attack vectors. Staying relevant requires constant learning and upskilling. Mind of Cyber+2Cyber Secure India+2

• Ethical awareness and responsibility: Consultants often have privileged access. Integrity, ethics, and a sense of responsibility are non-negotiable.

Digital Transformation + Regulatory Pressure  

India’s digital economy is booming. As companies adopt cloud, AI, and remote working, data volumes are exploding, and so are the stakes. According to a recent report, organisations across sectors — IT, finance, retail, government — are seeing surging cyber threats, making cybersecurity a top priority. Cyber Secure India+2mint+2

Additionally, regulatory frameworks and compliance requirements (data protection, privacy laws, corporate governance) are becoming stricter. Organisations need experts who understand both technology and regulations — not just developers. UMA Technology+1

Talent Gap = Opportunity for Professionals  

For those considering a career in cybersecurity — or contemplating a switch — the landscape offers tremendous opportunity:

• High demand for technical contributors (analysts, engineers, consultants, architects) with clear growth potential. In many cases, salary packages are significantly higher than comparable traditional IT roles. The Economic Times+2Cyber Secure India+2

• As many organisations struggle to hire and retain competent professionals, there’s room for impact and growth: those with the right skills, attitude and adaptability can stand out. CIO Insider+2Communications Today+2

• The domain offers long-term relevance. Cyber threats won’t go away; if anything, they will keep evolving. So, unlike some tech fads, cybersecurity offers sustained career stability and demand. Cyber Secure India+1

While many view cybersecurity consultants purely as technical specialists, in reality, their role often straddles technology, business, and governance. Here’s what consultants bring to the table:

• Risk Assessment & Advisory: Consultants help organisations understand what they stand to lose if systems are breached. They frame cybersecurity in business terms — cost of downtime, data breach, reputational risk, compliance fines.

• Strategic Planning: Not just fixing vulnerabilities, but building long-term security strategies, roadmaps, governance frameworks, and compliance processes.

• Bridging Business & Technical Teams: Consultants often serve as translators — taking complex technical security concepts and explaining them to leadership, board members, or non-technical stakeholders.

• Training & Awareness: Helping build a security culture in organisations, training developers/staff, designing policies that integrate security by default.

• Incident Response & Forensics: When breaches happen — and they do — consultants guide response, investigation, mitigation, and recovery.

Despite the clear need and demand, there are significant hurdles:

• Lack of structured education / training: Traditional IT education in many colleges still focuses largely on software development or networking, but not on a defensive cybersecurity mindset or hands-on security training. Mind of Cyber+2mint+2

• Skill-mismatch and rapidly evolving threats: By the time curricula are designed, threats evolve. Many graduates — though theoretically trained — lack practical experience or awareness of emerging challenges. Mind of Cyber+1

• Retention issues: Keeping cybersecurity staff is hard. As demand increases globally, many mid-career experts are lured abroad or into more lucrative roles. Several organisations report difficulties in retention. CIO Insider+2KPMG Assets+2

• Soft skills gap: A survey of 250 cybersecurity professionals in India highlighted that many lack essential soft skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication — undermining their effectiveness. The Economic Times+1

Given the challenges — and the stakes — what can we do to strengthen India’s cybersecurity workforce? Here are some approaches:

• Promote cybersecurity education and practical training: Colleges, universities, and training institutes should integrate hands-on cybersecurity courses — covering network security, cloud security, ethical hacking, incident response, compliance, etc. Real-world labs, internships, and capstone projects will help bridge the theory-practice gap.

• Encourage upskilling and cross-functional transitions: Many professionals from networking, systems administration, or general IT can be reskilled into cybersecurity, given interest and training — especially given that threats evolve across domains. Enterprises should support such internal transitions.

• Foster a “security mindset” culture: Organisations need to promote security awareness at every level — from developers to leadership — emphasising that cybersecurity is not just a “tool” but a team discipline.

• Provide mentorship and continuous learning opportunities: Given the rapid evolution of threats, cybersecurity professionals must constantly learn about cloud, AI, new attack vectors, compliance, etc. Mentorship programs, access to advanced courses and certifications, conferences, and community involvement can help.

• Competitive compensation and retention policies: Since demand is high, companies should ensure that cybersecurity staff — especially mid-senior — are fairly compensated and provided growth opportunities to prevent attrition.

In earlier decades, many cyber incidents could be addressed by patching systems or deploying firewalls. But today’s threats are far more sophisticated: cloud misconfigurations, supply-chain attacks, AI-powered intrusion tools, zero-day vulnerabilities, social engineering, advanced persistent threats.

In such a landscape, only deep technical knowledge, combined with strategic thinking, can keep pace. Without it, organisations may buy expensive security tools — but still remain vulnerable.

Moreover, regulatory requirements, data-protection laws, privacy norms — both domestic and global — demand not just reactive security, but proactive compliance. That requires professionals who understand both technology and governance.

In short, basic IT or networking knowledge is no longer enough. We need specialists — cybersecurity experts and consultants — who understand the complex interplay of networks, cloud, software, human behaviour, and business risk.

As digital citizens — as aspiring tech professionals, as part of businesses — we all have a stake in cybersecurity. Here’s what we can do now:

• If you are a student or early-career IT professional: consider building a foundation in cybersecurity — learn network security, ethical hacking, cloud security, forensics. Real-world labs, certifications, open-source tools — they all help.

• If you are an organisation's leadership, invest in building in-house security teams, support upskilling, promote security culture, and treat cybersecurity as more than just a compliance checkbox.

• If you are already in IT but outside security, consider reskilling — your general IT knowledge may give you a head start in cybersecurity with the right training.

• If you are a policymaker or educator, push for more structured cybersecurity curriculum in colleges/universities, encourage industry-academia partnerships, and enable practical exposure to real-world security challenges.

Q: What technical knowledge is essential for cybersecurity consultants?
A: Cloud security, network security, ethical hacking / penetration testing, cryptography and data protection, incident response and forensics, compliance and governance knowledge, security auditing — along with soft skills like critical thinking, problem-solving and communication.

Q: Why is there a shortage of cybersecurity professionals in India despite high demand?
A: Multiple factors — limited practical cybersecurity education in traditional IT courses; rapidly evolving threats that outpace curricula; many graduates lack hands-on skills; and high demand leading to retention challenges.

Q: Can IT professionals with a non-security background transition into cybersecurity?
A: Yes — with the right training and mindset, IT professionals can reskill (or upskill), especially if they embrace continuous learning and practice hands-on security skills.

Q: Is cybersecurity just about deploying tools and firewalls?
A: No — modern cybersecurity involves strategic planning, governance, risk assessment, incident response, compliance, and human behaviour. Tools help, but the human factor remains critical.

Q: What should organisations do to build a strong cybersecurity posture?
A: Invest in trained cybersecurity professionals, promote security culture, provide ongoing training & awareness, balance technical tools with people-centric practices, and integrate security into business strategy — not treat it as an afterthought.