The best cities to find a cybersecurity job in 2021

Today’s cybersecurity sector is chronically short of personnel. But this is excellent news for aspiring cybersecurity experts looking for a job because employers are doing their best to attract and retain real talent in the industry.

Cyberattacks have been on the rise over the past few years, especially since the coronavirus pandemic outbreak. With everything having to move in the digital world so fast and without any planning, many security vulnerabilities made their way into the picture. Businesses, institutions, and individuals had no idea or very little information on how to protect their data and identities online, which made the past year a very lucrative period for cybercriminals.

Data shows that every 40 seconds, there’s a cyberattack happening somewhere around the globe. According to data from Accenture, these cyberattacks cost companies an average of $13 million because of stolen or lost data, brand reputation impact, and a decrease in consumer trust and loyalty. So, as cyberattacks are becoming more frequent and more severe problems for companies and organizations, it’s no surprise that a skilled cybersecurity workforce is in high demand.

This has led to several new and unique challenges for the cybersecurity industry, including finding and training enough professionals to address the growing needs of the fast-growing threat of cyber risks. 

So, this is great news for experienced and aspiring industry professionals looking for a job in cybersecurity. But, where can you find a cybersecurity job? Or, better yet, where can you find the BEST cybersecurity job? Techshielder’s latest analysis answers this question. 

The research has found the best places for cybersecurity professionals to find a job in the industry, analyzing factors like job availability, average salary, and the cost of living in the area are. Based on these three factors, all locations have gained a certain overall score. 

Washington, D.C., Singapore, and Berlin have made it in the top three places around the world for finding a job in the cybersecurity sector. 

The best cities to find a cybersecurity job

If you were to look for a job in the digital security area, where would you be looking for it? The new analysis has found that the best cities to work in as a cybersecurity expert are as follows:

1. Washington, D.C, United States- with an overall score of 17.58
2. Singapore, Singapore- with an overall score of 16.44
3. Berlin, Germany- with an overall score of 15.41
4. Luxembourg, Luxembourg- with an overall score of 14.99
5. Brussels, Belgium- with an overall score of 14.77
6. Ottawa, Canada- with an overall score of 14.29
7. Vienna, Austria- with an overall score of 14.23
8. London, England- with an overall score of 14.20
9. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia- with an overall score of 13.63
10. Tokyo, Japan- with an overall score of 13.59

Now, these results are based on factors like job availability, the average salary offered to cybersecurity experts, and the cost of living in those locations.

The study has found that Singapore, for example, has the most open positions, but the location also has the highest cost of living. As for Luxembourg, the analysis found that the city is the cybersecurity employer that offers the highest average salary, offering an average salary of $154,445 annually, but the location scores low on available positions. Washington D.C. scored as the best cybersecurity employer because the place pays an average salary of $117,998 annually, and there are also a lot of open positions. Yet, the living cost here is high, following only Singapore. You can read more about it on Techshielder.

Remote cybersecurity job options

Remote work is becoming the new standard these days. As a result of the pandemic and its lockdown measures, working remotely has become the new norm. According to Statista, a global survey conducted with CIOs found that 34% of the respondents expected their workforce to be working remotely permanently, even after the end of the pandemic. 

So, it is no surprise that Techshield’s analysis also identified how remote work in the industry is performing. Researchers found that the countries with the most jobs in the field that were presented in their advertisements as remote work are: 

1. Brazil
2. Columbia
3. Portugal
4. Spain
5. Italy
6. Canada
7. US
8. Philippines
9. Switzerland
10. Ireland

However, despite a massive increase of popularity in remote working, the number of remote jobs in the cybersecurity sector in these countries remains relatively small. More precisely, Brazil had about 22% of cybersecurity jobs advertised as remote, and the number drops down to 7% in Ireland. 

What skills do cybersecurity professionals need to land a job?

As mentioned above, one of the biggest current challenges in the cybersecurity sector is the lack of enough people trained to fill online security jobs around the world. Estimates from 2018 from the New York Times suggest that by 2021, there will be about 3.5 million unfilled jobs in the global cybersecurity industry. This is also known as a “cybersecurity skills gap.” So, what types of skills do aspiring cybersecurity experts need to fill some of these open positions. 

The analysis has also looked at the most in-demand skills requested in cybersecurity job advertisements. Those included:

• Network Analysis, referring to the know-how of understanding how networks work.
• Threat Assessment, referring to having the skills and knowledge to evaluate and prevent cybersecurity threats and mitigate attacks.
• Compliance, referring to the know-how related to security protocols that are needed to keep private data safe.
• Cloud Skills, with more companies moving all their data into the cloud, cloud skills are necessary so that cybersecurity experts are able to arrange, organize, monitor, and protect a virtual environment containing very sensitive data.

The training and development of cybersecurity professionals are becoming more and more critical by the day as cybersecurity threats continue to grow and become more diverse and damaging.