The lack of cybersecurity professionals is one of the European Union's biggest challenges. There is currently a shortage of 300,000 profiles and a 72% increase in digital threats. Finding professionals committed to online security is more necessary than ever.

According to various cybersecurity media outlets, this sector has full employment. It is estimated that unemployment is at 0%. Filling vacancies is difficult. More than 50% of companies take 3 to 6 months to fill junior positions, and more than 60% of organizations report a shortage of staff.

Furthermore, hired professionals sometimes have training gaps. According to the ISC2 training portal, almost 9 out of 10 teams report a lack of skills among their workforce.

To encourage training and hiring, the European Union allocates €1.3 billion to Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, and digital skills.

Currently, the most in-demand job opportunities are:

• Defense/SOC: SOC analyst, incident response, threat hunting.

• Offensive: pentester, red team.

• Cloud & Platform: Cloud Security Engineer, DevSecOps.

• Governance & Compliance: GRC, auditing.

The sector with the greatest demand for these professionals is finance, along with energy, industry, consulting, and healthcare.

Two of the cities with the highest demand for cybersecurity jobs are Spanish: Barcelona and Madrid top the ranking behind Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, and London.

If you are interested in training in cybersecurity, there are three main areas of study: networks, security fundamentals, and essential tools. Depending on the area, you can specialize based on your interest.

If you want to train in the Canary Islands, the University of La Laguna offers a master’s degree in Cybersecurity and Data Intelligence, which equips students with the needed knowledge to fill these in-demand positions.