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Sudden demand creates scarcity, competition, and crisis

• Whenever rapid demand increases hit a profession with nontrivial skill and/or education requirements, economic theory suggests that rapidly rising compensation packages and strong competition for workers can be expected.

Educational initiatives are already addressing the cybersecurity demand

• In response to earlier indications of burgeoning demand for cybersecurity professionals, there has already been a large increase in education, notably government-supported education, but also an increase in the number of computer science majors.

It's normal for the labor market to lag demand and education initiatives

• Theory suggests and experience confirms that the market may take a long time to respond to unexpected increases in demand.
• In the short term, many large organizations have found innovative ways of meeting the demand for cybersecurity professionals through internal recruitment and training, as our interviews have found.
• Theory suggests and our interviews confirm that even organizations that can meet most of their needs internally still face difficulties in recruiting or retaining cybersecurity professionals in the upper tier.

The best steps may already have been taken

• The difficulty in finding qualified cybersecurity candidates is likely to solve itself, as the supply of cyberprofessionals currently in the educational pipeline increases, and the market reaches a stable, long-run equilibrium.