Rising demand for cybersecurity professionals in Manitoba: MITT

WINNIPEG -

There is a rising demand for cybersecurity professionals as the world deals with a surge in e-crime, made worse by the pandemic, according to the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology (MITT).

The issue is far-reaching, impacting individuals and companies both here at home and abroad, according to Kathy Knight, the executive director of CyberWave at MITT.

She said cybercrime has been rising steadily since 2020, but pandemic-forced changes to the way people work amplified the problem.

“A lot of it has to do with the fact everyone went remote,” Knight said. “As a business owner, you may have had one company with one office with 35 employees. Now, you basically have 35 offices with 35 employees.”

Industry projections show a need for 40-50,000 cybersecurity professionals across the country by 2023. Vacancy rates tend to follow those of the tech sector, which Knight said sit around one to three per cent. The same is true for Manitoba.

To meet industry demand within the province, MITT established CyberWave. It offers seven cybersecurity micro-credentials that focus on specializations in the field.

To develop the training, MITT worked in collaboration with industry experts like EC-Council, a recognized industry accreditation organization.

Knight said three out of four companies recognize that a good cybersecurity strategy is going to be key to their post-COVID-19 recovery plan.

“That’s why we’ve had such high engagement from the industry to put this training and pull these micro-credentials together. They need people to respond, to protect their systems and data.”

 

-with files from CTV’s Nicole Dube