Cybersecurity Statistics: The Ultimate Guide (updated)

If you are working in the world of cybersecurity, the chances are that you are going to need to quote some cybersecurity statistics at some point. Whether you are a student, need to present in meetings, sell solutions or simply show that you are on top of the trends in the workplace, you will need the numbers to prove your point.

The world of cybersecurity is evolving so quickly that it can be hard to stay on top of the latest trends. This comprehensive reference guide to cybersecurity statistics gives you the numbers and references you need. Even better, as we see new reports, we’ll keep it up to date, so that you don’t have to! Bookmark this page today and you’ll have the information you need at your fingertips, ready to go.

Community concern about personal data is rising

Across the globe, people are feeling more concerned about cyber attacks and data breaches.

In Australia, for example, there is increasing concern about the handling of personal information and an increasing desire for tougher legislation after the high profile Optus and Medibank cybersecurity breaches, according to a 2023 study.

The Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey, released in August 2023 by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), found three-quarters of Australians feel data breaches are one of the biggest risks to privacy they face. That is an increase of 13% since the survey was last conducted in early 2020. Learn more at https://bit.ly/Auconc.

Senior executives say cybersecurity is their top concern

According to the ‘Keeping us up at night‘ report released by KPMG early in 2024, Australian CEOs say that dealing with cyber risks is their top priority in the next 3-5 years. This mirrors the findings of an Australian Financial Review survey of Australia’s top CEOs, published in January 2024, in which Australian CEOs said that cybersecurity was the biggest risk not getting the attention it deserved.

Further, “one in four CISOs believe their employment would be in jeopardy if their enterprises were impacted by a breach,” according to this article https://www.cybertalk.org/2022/11/18/a-cisos-100-day-run-to-cyber-success/

According to a 2023 report by Accenture, CEOs Lack Confidence in Their Organizations’ Ability to Protect Against Cyberattacks Despite Seeing Cybersecurity as Vital to Growth.

The Cyber-Resilient CEO, report says that three-quarters (74%) of CEOs are concerned about their organisations’ ability to avert or minimize damage to the business from a cyberattack, despite 96% of CEOs saying that cybersecurity is critical to growth and stability.

The report was based on a survey of 1,000 CEOs from large organisations globally. Accenture’s research pointed to the reactive way in which CEOs treat cybersecurity, resulting in greater risk of attacks and higher costs to respond to them. It notes that 60% of CEOs said their organisations don’t incorporate cybersecurity into business strategies, services or products from the outset, and more than four in 10 (44%) of the CEOs believe that cybersecurity requires episodic intervention rather than ongoing attention.

Adding to this reactive stance is the incorrect assumption by more than half (54%) of CEOs that the cost of implementing cybersecurity is higher than the cost of suffering a cyberattack despite history showing otherwise. For instance, the report notes that a global shipping and logistics company breach resulted in a 20% drop in business volume, with losses hitting US$300 million.

In addition, despite 90% of CEOs saying they consider cybersecurity a differentiating factor for their products or services to help them build trust among customers, only 15% have dedicated board meetings for discussing cybersecurity issues. This disconnect might be explained by the fact that the vast majority (91%) of CEOs said cybersecurity is a technical function that is the responsibility of the CIO or chief information security officer.

The cloud computing revolution

One of the more defining trends in IT has been the rise of cloud computing. Investment in the cloud is displacing investment in on-premise IT at an aggressive rate, growing seven times faster than overall IT spending growth, according to IDC.
The growth is showing no signs of slowing down. ReportLinker research shows that the global cloud computing market size is expected to grow from USD 272.0 billion in 2018 to USD 623.3 billion by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18.0%.
Although cloud computing has been a feature of the IT landscape since the early 2000s, implementation was slow initially in many areas, hampered by a lack of understanding and trust.
Inevitably, of course, growth picked up towards the end of the last decade. And then events took a turn that none of us saw coming – the world moved online with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cloud security

In a report by Thales cloud security, based on a survey of 3,000 IT and security teams across 18 countries in EMEA, the Americas and Asia Pacific, well over a third of businesses said they experienced a data breach in their cloud environment last year.

The Thales Cloud Security Study shows that 79% of organizations have more than one cloud provider and 75% of companies said they store at least 40% of their sensitive data in the cloud. See 2023 Cloud Security Study.

The problem with AI…

The Cyber-Resilient CEO 2023 report by Accenture suggested that generative AI holds the potential to introduce a greater level of advanced security threats, with new challenges that even best-practice cybersecurity may not fully address. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of CEOs surveyed said that cybercriminals could use generative AI to create sophisticated and hard-to-detect cyberattacks, such as phishing scams, social engineering attacks and automated hacks.

This is supported by research carried out by Nutanix at the end of 2023.

The Nutanix State of Enterprise AI Report found that data security and governance are at the forefront of enterprise AI decision-making – not cost. 90% of survey respondents emphasize AI security and reliability, and most plan to enhance data protection and DR.

According to the report, today’s IT infrastructure wasn’t built for AI, with 91% of respondents agreeing that it’s time to modernise,

Even QR codes can’t be trusted

2023 saw a sharp increase in QR code based phishing attacks – or ‘quishing’ – according to Check Point’s Harmony Email team. Quishing is a growing form of phishing attack that encourages users to scan a QR code that takes them to a page where they provide credentials that can then be used for data theft. These QR code phishing scams, also called ‘cushing’, use the code to share a malicious link, impersonating legitimate companies and organisations. Harmony Email researchers issued a warning about the increasing risk of quishing attacks, saying that almost all of their customers had been impacted by these attacks, which were shown to have increased by 587% between August and September 2023.

The people shortage

According to June 2023 numbers from CyberSeek (https://www.cyberseek.org/) There are 663,434 cybersecurity job openings in the USA.

83% of corporate boards recommend increasing IT security headcount (Fortinet – 2023 Cybersecurity Skills Gap)

The global shortage of cybersecurity professionals is estimated to be 3.4 million according to the (ISC)2 2022 Cybersecurity Workforce Study (https://www.cyberseek.org/)

A Deloitte and RMIT Online survey showed that out of 600 Australian businesses, 88% say it’s difficult to find skilled employees. But it seems some organisations don’t plan to do anything about it – 15% have no means of tackling the issue within their own organisation. https://itbrief.com.au/story/au-firms-fight-digital-skills-gap-in-the-age-of-work-evolution

While those businesses are doing what they can to address skill shortages, many (49%) rely on attracting new employees – but only 45% are focusing on internal training and education.

It’s an oversight that could cost businesses – according to the survey, the cost of replacing a bad hiring decision within six months is two and a half times the person’s salary.

Although businesses in Australia and throughout the world are struggling to find the right talent for their businesses, only 45% are solving the problem with training. Learn more https://bit.ly/skillgapsolved

According to weforum.org, there is a global cybersecurity workforce shortage of 3.12 million, broken down as follows: North America -376,000, Europe -168,000, LATAM -527,000 and -2.045 in APAC, leaving us seriously exposed. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/05/cybersecurity-governments-business/

Palo Alto Networks quotes the Cybersecurity Workforce Study* which shows that, worldwide, the gap between open positions and the availability of experienced cybersecurity professionals is over 2.72 million.

The Australian Financial Review (https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/why-we-don-t-have-enough-workers-to-fill-jobs-in-4-graphs-20220621-p5avcc) reported that almost a third of Australian businesses were struggling to fill jobs, and most of these businesses attributed their struggles to applicants not having the required skills (59 per cent). When it comes to technology jobs, there’s a global shortage of workers with the necessary skills. Markets around the world are vying for workers with these skills, so Australia faces a competitive fight to attract that talent (https://www.afr.com/technology/skills-shortage-a-handbrake-for-technology-companies-20220503-p5ai8r)

These numbers were reflected among those we surveyed at Palo Alto Ignite 2022. 45% of respondents said that it is challenging for their organisation to find enough qualified and experienced staff. https://www.rededucation.com/students-cybersecurity-training-survey/

Big technology companies are laying off staff as market conditions change

https://securityintelligence.com/articles/laid-off-big-tech-cybersecurity-careers/

According to Bloomberg, businesses are now cutting jobs at a rate approaching that of early 2020. For example, in November 2022 alone, companies laid off more than 52,000 workers. Companies like Amazon and Meta also plan to let more than 10,000 staff members go over the next few years. But there’s one tech sector that’s still struggling to find talented staff: Cybersecurity.

But cybersecurity roles are increasing

According to data from Cyber Seek (https://www.cyberseek.org/heatmap.html), more than a million IT professionals are currently part of the cybersecurity workforce. This number has been steadily growing over the past few years. Despite the uptick, however, there are still more than 750,000 open cybersecurity positions across the country. In states such as Florida, Texas and California, there are anywhere between 25,000 and 83,000 job openings available.

The reason for this growing gap is simple: Cybersecurity threats are on the rise, and there aren’t enough skilled professionals to meet increasing demand.

Cybersecurity supply/demand heat map https://www.cyberseek.org/heatmap.html

Provides a current picture of:

Total cybersecurity job openings in the US
Total employed cybersecurity workforce US

US cybersecurity specialist demographics

According to zippia.com (https://www.zippia.com/cyber-security-specialist-jobs/demographics/):

Gender: 83.2% of cyber security specialists are male and only 16.8% are female. Women working as cyber security specialists earn 95c for every $1 earned by men.

Ethnicity: 65.7% of cyber security specialists are white, 9.6% are Asian, 9.2% are Black or African American, 9.0% are Hispanic or Latino, 6.1% unknown, 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native.

Age: 60% of cyber security specialists are aged 40 and over, 30% are aged between 30 and 40 and only 10% are aged 20-30 years

Education: 56% of cyber security specialist have a Bachelor’s degree, 23% have an associate degree, 14% have a Masters, 4% have only a high school diploma and 3% have ‘other’ degrees.

The more educated cyber security specialists are, the more they earn. Cyber security specialists with a Master’s degree earn more than those without, with a median income of $102,962 in 2023. With a Bachelor’s degree, cyber security specialists earn a median annual income of $93,089 compared to $81,790 for cyber security specialists with an Associate degree.

Sector: Most (59%) cybersecurity specialists work in the private sector, 28% work in the public sector, 9% work in government and 4% work in education.

Cybersecurity teams are under pressure

Not surprisingly, cyber security teams are under the pump. According to #Forrester‘s #predictions 2023 Sydney presented in December 2022 (https://www.forrester.com/predictions/apac/)

66% of cyber security engineers have significant levels of stress at work
63% said their stress levels have risen over the past year.
51% have been prescribed medication for their mental health
19% are consuming more than three drinks daily

Number of cyber attacks

According to Web Arx Security, 30,000 websites are hacked every day across the world and the University of Maryland found that there is a new attack somewhere on the web every 39 seconds. Cybint Solutions research shows that 64% of companies worldwide have experienced at least one form of cyber attack in the past year.

The figures from Palo Alto Networks indicate that the problem could be even worse: according to their research, 96% of organisations were attacked in the last year (Source: What’s New in Cyber, Palo Alto Networks, 2022),

According to the IBM Cost of a Data breach Report (https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/3R8N1DZJ) 2022, 83% of organizations studied have had more than one data breach.

33% of security pros experienced operational disruption as a negative consequence of a breach (Source: What’s New in Cyber, Palo Alto Networks, 2022)

Global cyberattacks increased by 38% in 2022, compared to 2021, according to Check Point, Jan 2023 https://blog.checkpoint.com/2023/01/05/38-increase-in-2022-global-cyberattacks/–

Global cyberattacks increased by 38% in 2022, compared to 2021.
Global volume of cyberattacks reached an all-time high in Q4 with an average of 1168 weekly attacks per organization

Forbes reports that at the 2023 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum wrapped up in Davos, Switzerland, it ended with a disturbing prediction from one of the leading voices. Delivering a presentation on the 2023 Global Cybersecurity Outlook report, forum Managing Director Jeremy Jurgens revealed that 93 percent of those surveyed believe that a “catastrophic” cyber security event is likely in the next two years.

According to Check Point Research, quoted in an article in Business Today Magazine, weekly cyberattacks in India’s private sector have increased by 18 per cent in India in 2023, as against an increase of 7 per cent globally.

Cost of attacks and breaches

$2.4M USD is the average cost associated with recovering from a breach (Source: What’s New in Cyber, Palo Alto Networks, 2022).

IBM were more pessimistic in their Cost of a Data Breach Report 2022 (https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/3R8N1DZJ) : Their research showed that the cost of a data breach averaged USD 4.35 million in 2022. This figure represents a 2.6% increase from last year, when the average cost of a breach was USD 4.24 million. The average cost has climbed 12.7% from USD 3.86 million in the 2020 report. The news is even worse for those in the US, where the average cost of a breach was USD 9.44 million, the highest average cost globally.

According to the Australian Financial Review, https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/optus-suffers-1-2b-brand-hit-as-woolies-tops-rankings-20230116-p5ccta the Optus brand suffered a $1.2 billion blow after a 2022 cyberattack, plummeting down the rankings of Australia’s most valuable brands, that was topped by Woolworths, Telstra and Commonwealth Bank. Medibank’s brand would also have likely been hit hard by its massive data hack, which wiped $1.8 billion from its market value in one day, but Brand Finance’s calculations for its 2023 list were compiled in early October – two weeks before the health insurer was hit by its own breach.

Forbes reports that by 2025, it’s expected that cybercrime will cost the world economy around $10.5 trillion annually, increasing from $3 trillion in 2015 according to Cybersecurity Ventures. To put that in context, if it were a country, then cybercrime would have the third largest GDP behind the US and China. Key drivers of this growth are the ongoing digitization of society, behavioural changes due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, political instability such as the war in Ukraine, and the global economic downturn.

Australian Cyber Threats in 2023

The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) released its cyber threat report for the previous financial year in November 2023. Almost 94,000 reports of cybercrime were made to law enforcement agencies by individuals and businesses across the country – an increase of 23 per cent from the previous financial year – with the average cost of attacks to companies increasing by 14 per cent. Serious attacks crippling federal government agencies or critical infrastructure and leading to “isolated” or “extensive compromise” of sensitive data rose from two to five – learn more at https://bit.ly/ASDRep.

Cybersecurity and human error

By 2025, lack of talent or human failure will be responsible for over half of significant cybersecurity incidents, says Gartner Predicts 2023 (https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-02-22-gartner-predicts-nearly-half-of-cybersecurity-leaders-will-change-jobs-by-2025)

According to a study by IBM, 95% of cyber security breaches result from human error (https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/the-role-of-human-error-in-cybersecurity-breach-2022-08-29/) and 19 out of 20 cyber breaches result from human error. Decision-based errors, where the user makes a faulty decision, result from a lack of knowledge, skills and information and can be avoided with further training.

Similar, if slightly lower, numbers were reported by researchers from Stanford University, who found that human error was behind approximately 88 percent of all data breaches (https://blog.knowbe4.com/88-percent-of-data-breaches-are-caused-by-human-error) . Human error is still very much the driving force behind an overwhelming majority of cybersecurity problems.

The study was done by Stanford University Professor Jeff Hancock and security firm Tessian. The study “Psychology of Human Error” (https://www.tessian.com/research/the-psychology-of-human-error/) highlighted that employees are unwilling to admit to their mistakes if organizations judge them severely.

Understanding the psychology behind human errors helps organizations to know how to prevent mistakes before they turn into data leaks. According to the study, nearly 50% of the employees stated that they are “very” or “pretty” certain they have made an error at work that could have led to security issues for their company. The study goes into detail about the differences between young and older employees, where younger users will more easily admit to mistakes and are also easier to phish.

In our survey of Palo Alto Ignite delegates in 2022, 48% of responders said they believed their organisation would be at risk if their people did not receive up-to-date cybersecurity training

Ransomware attacks

New statistics have been released about the ransomware attacks dominating the cybersecurity landscape. Check Point’s Harish Kumar highlights that a startling 71% of organizations have found themselves besieged by ransomware, with the financial fallout averaging a hefty $4.35 million per breach. In addition, Rapid7 researchers have found that Almost 5,200 organizations were hit by ransomware attacks in 2023. “In reality, we believe that number was actually higher because it doesn’t account for the many attacks that likely went unreported,” Christiaan Beek, senior director of threat analytics at Rapid7, said in the report.

Email attacks

Email is responsible for around 94% of all malware .according to techjury.net

Cyber attack stats for 2022 show that opening emails containing file extensions like .iso, .exe, .zip, .dmg, .rar should be avoided. Zip. and jar. files can easily bypass the anti-malware security of most email providers, so be on the lookout for them.

Microsoft Office files could also pose a threat. Since most people are used to extensions like .ppt, .doc, and .xls, they’re easy to overlook.

Financial services

As of 2022, over 60% of financial service companies have 1000+ sensitive files accessible to all employees. (Source: Varonis)

Moreover, about 60% of companies in the field have 500+ passwords that never expire. With insiders being a significant risk factor, such businesses are more vulnerable to cyber attacks and data breaches.

Healthcare

Over 550 US healthcare organizations experienced data breaches in 2022. (Source: Health Hit Security)

Statistics on hospitals and cyberattacks have shown that financial institutions aren’t the only ones facing data breach issues. History has shown that the healthcare sector is among the most targeted. In 2022, up to 550 US healthcare organizations experienced data breaches. These cyber attacks affected over 40 million individuals as patients’ private information was stolen.

Small business

There are 65,000 attempts to hack small-medium-sized businesses in the UK daily. (Source: Hiscox)

Statistics on how many cyber attacks per day in the UK report that the country has one of the lowest costs of data breaches compared to the world’s average. Also, out of all cyber attacks attempts made daily, 4,500 of them are always successful.

2022 Global Cyberattack Statistics (Check Point)

From Check Point, Jan 2023 https://blog.checkpoint.com/2023/01/05/38-increase-in-2022-global-cyberattacks/

Check Point Research (CPR) releases new data on 2022 cyberattack trends. The data is segmented by global volume, industry and geography. Global cyberattacks increased by 38% in 2022, compared to 2021. These cyberattack numbers were driven by smaller, more agile hacker and ransomware gangs, who focused on exploiting collaboration tools used in work-from-home environments, targeting of education institutions that shifted to e-learning post COVID-19. This increase in global cyberattacks also stems from hacker interest in healthcare organizations, which saw the largest increase in cyberattacks in 2022, when compared to all other industries. CPR warns that the maturity of AI technology, such as CHATGPT, can accelerate the number of cyberattacks in 2023.

Global cyberattacks increased by 38% in 2022, compared to 2021.
Global volume of cyberattacks reached an all-time high in Q4 with an average of 1168 weekly attacks per organization
Top 3 most attacked industries in 2022 were Education/Research, Government and Healthcare
Geography of Africa experienced the highest volume of attacks with 1875 weekly attacks per organization, followed by APAC with 1691 weekly attacks per organization
North America (+52%), Latin America (+29%) and Europe (+26%) showed largest increases in cyberattacks in 2022, compared to 2021
USA saw a 57% increase in overall cyberattacks in 2022, UK saw a 77% increase and Singapore saw a 26% increase.
Looking back at cyberattacks for the healthcare sector in 2022, healthcare organizations in the US suffered an average of 1410 weekly cyberattacks per organization, which is 86% higher than the number we saw in 2021, with the healthcare sector ranking second out of all sectors for the most cyberattacks in the US.

Examples of attacks

Medibank Data Breach 2022, Australia

Medibank’s 2022 data breach cost the health insurer $46.4 million in the 2022-2023 financial year, and the total cost by the end of 2024 was estimated to pass $80 million. The costs were disclosed by the company in its annual report on 24 Aug 2023. The data breach, which emerged in October 2022, occurred when attackers obtained the credentials of a third-party contractor. That resulted in the leak of information on 9.7 million customers. The stolen data included sensitive information on policyholders’ medical conditions and treatment.

The 2023 costs included Medibank’s incident response and its customer support package.

The company expected $30 million to $35 million in 2024 for further IT security uplift, legal costs and other costs related to regulatory investigations and litigation. This did not include the impacts of any potential findings or outcomes from regulatory investigations or litigation.

Further, according to Reuters, in June 2023 Australia’s banking regulator told insurer Medibank it would have to set aside A$250 million ($167 million) in extra capital, citing weaknesses identified in its information security after a major hacking breach.

Further sources: ITNews, AFR

ShipManager, 2023

January 2023: a cyber-attack on DNV impacted 6,000+ vessels using ShipManager software (https://theloadstar.com/cyber-attack-on-dnv-impacts-6000-vessels-using-shipmanager-software/)

Over 30,000 school students were told that classes for almost a following a cyber-attack in the US state of Iowa. (https://www.cybersecurityconnect.com.au/critical-infrastructure/8586-cyber-attack-takes-entire-school-district-offline-in-the-united-states}

Operational impact of breaches

33% of security pros experienced operational disruption as a negative consequence of a breach (Source: What’s New in Cyber, Palo Alto Networks, 2022)

Solutions

77% of security executives think it is critical to reduce the number of security solutions and services they use (Source: What’s New in Cyber, Palo Alto Networks, 2022)

The importance of training

According to Huffington Post, Companies that invest in training make 24% more profit than those that don’t.

Of course, the most important benefit of training is that organisations are better protected when their people are cyber aware and well trained.

The 2023 Security Awareness and Training Global Research Brief from Fortinet underscores the importance of effective cyber security awareness and training for employees to decrease cyber risk. John Maddison, EVP of Products and CMO at Fortinet said “It also highlights the critical need for organizations to prioritize security awareness and training services to ensure employees serve as the first line of defense.”

Some important stats from the report:

50% of leaders indicated that their employees lack proper knowledge
84% of organizations experienced one or more breaches in 2022
90% of leaders believe that increased employee cybersecurity awareness would help decrease the occurrence of cyberattacks
81% of organizations faced malware, phishing, and password attacks last year which mainly were targeted at users. This underscores that employees can be an organization’s weakest point or one of its most powerful defences.
93% of organizations indicated their board of directors are asking about the organizations cyber defences and strategy. Cybersecurity is increasingly becoming a priority for the Board of Directors.

Cybersecurity, training and NGOs

One in six Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in the Asia-Pacific region – including in Australia – experienced a cyber security incident in the last 12 months, and only 24% of organisations currently provide cyber security training for their staff, according to a report by Infoxchange with support from Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm https://itwire.com/business-it-news/security/asia-pacific-ngos-affected-by-cyber-attacks.html

The value of IT certification

In the 2021 Value of IT Certification Report (https://home.pearsonvue.com/voc/2021-report) we saw:

The demand for IT certification is growing (16% increase in delivered exams)

The Cybersecurity Workforce Study* (ISC)2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, 2021, (ISC)2, October 26, 2021. looks at the top 5 career motivators for technical certifications, finding them to be as follows:

Higher than average salary – 31% of respondents reported a median annual salary of US$100,000 or more and 50% of candidates received a pay increase of 6%–20%.
Promotions – 56% of candidates who earned IT certifications were promoted in their current roles.
Job satisfaction – 77% of respondents are satisfied or extremely satisfied with their jobs
Obtain new skills – 73% of respondents cited obtaining particular skills, knowledge, or competencies
Strengthen resumes – 56% of candidates used IT credentials to update and strengthen their resumes

IT certification generates significant ROI for certification earners and their employers – Seven out of 10 candidates met their goals for certification and would recommend certification to someone seeking to start or advance a career in IT. As a result, many attained new jobs (36%), pay raises (28%), and job promotions (21%). Their employers felt a direct and favorable impact as well, experiencing benefits such as increased quality of work, productivity, efficiency, and the employee’s ability to mentor others.

Many of the benefits that result from certification favorably impact both the candidate and his or her place of employment. Outcomes such as increased work quality, productivity, efficiency, innovation, and the ability to mentor others are direct benefits to work processes and people, which ultimately impact business profitability. For example, according to Global Knowledge’s 2020 IT Skills and Salary Report, IT decision-makers estimated the return on investment for each credentialed staff member to be about $10,000.

increased quality and value of work contributions 81%
greater ability to mentor and support co-workers 80%
increased ability to innovate and enhance work processes and outcomes 77%
able to perform a task or fill a role that i was not able to before 75%
increased efficiency (produce more in less time) 72%
increased productivity (produce more overall) 71%

This Palo Alto Networks infographic quotes Dan Flear, “Salary Trends 2020/2021’, to show that, aside from extrinsic benefits, candidates experienced many intrinsic benefits from certification, including:

76% greater job satisfaction

76% increased respect from peers

84% greater determination to succeed professionally

74% greater work autonomy and independence

91% increased confidence

In our survey of Palo Alto Ignite 2022 delegates, 35% of responders agreed with the statement ‘I am likely to have a better-paid career as a result of increased certification’ and only 28% said that they felt that employees with more certifications would be more likely to be promoted than those with fewer certifications. https://www.rededucation.com/students-cybersecurity-training-survey/

According to zippia.com (https://www.zippia.com/cyber-security-specialist-jobs/demographics/)

Types of training

Students prefer instructor-led training – We asked delegates at Palo Alto Ignite 2022 about their preferred delivery mode for training. Would they rather do Virtual instructor-led training, Live in-person training or Self-paced online training? The results were clear – 78% of students prefer instructor-led training, whether in person in a classroom setting or online, to the self-paced online model. https://www.rededucation.com/students-cybersecurity-training-survey/

The hands on practice students get with virtual labs is vital – 59% of technologists say hands-on learning is the best way to apply new skills (https://www.pluralsight.com/resource-center/state-of-upskilling-2023)