How Do Data Breaches Impact Hiring?

Data is one of the most valuable resources today. The companies that own and store the world's largest and most valuable data wield enormous influence. Yet despite their power, these companies are increasingly vulnerable to data breaches, a costly and reputationally damaging affair.

IT security professionals are the primary defense against a data breach, yet they often get hired following a breach rather than before.

By looking at 48 of the largest data breaches of the last 10 years, we see the hiring trends for IT security before and after a breach:

Below we rank companies based on those that have hired the most IT security professional before a breach compared to afterward.

Takeaways:

• When it comes to data breaches, companies are often “too little too late”, generally hiring after a breach has occurred, not before.
• Even more surprising, there’s a general decrease of IT security positions right before a breach, showing a lack of concern for security.
• Expanding IT security teams generally takes 2 to 3 quarters, since these roles are in particularly high demand.

If you have any ideas of other metrics to track or would like to hear more, please feel free to reach out.