Tribe of Hackers Security Leaders

14Mike Chapple

“Security leaders need to think of themselves as business leaders who specialize in cybersecurity rather than cybersecurity specialists who happen to work in a particular business.”

Twitter: @mchapple • Websites: certmike.com and www.linkedin.com/in/mikechapple

Mike Chapple is associate teaching professor of information technology, analytics and operations at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. Mike is a security certification expert who has written over 50 cybersecurity books and video courses. Mike began his career as a cybersecurity researcher with the National Security Agency and has run cybersecurity programs at Notre Dame and in the private sector.

Do you believe there is a massive shortage of career cybersecurity professionals?

The cybersecurity skills gap is real, but I wouldn't classify it as a crisis in the same way that we often see it framed in the cybersecurity media. Instead, I see it as an opportunity. The IT skills market is like any other and subject to the influences of supply and demand. As the need increases for a particular skill area, salaries rise due to market competition, and those increased salaries draw talent willing to develop those skills. We've seen this happen countless times in different technology disciplines over the years—remember how valuable a database administrator was in the 1990s?

These market ...