UK business should educate internally to get the right IT security skills at lower cost

UK businesses should look to internal training to meet future IT security needs rather than paying high prices by competing to recruit scarce skills externally, experts have warned.

Information security and business continuity skills will be in high demand for 2011 across most sectors, according to the latest Barclay Simpson Interim Market Report.

A number of factors are coming together to help boost employment opportunities for information security practitioners, the report says, such as: an increase in the number of high-profile cyber attacks; the January 2012 deadline for all PCI-DSS assessments to be under version 2.0 of the standard; growing spending on cloud security; and increased use of penetration testing services,

IT security professionals seeking new opportunities are likely to benefit most, with salary increases for those changing employers peaking at 13% in the first half of 2011.

While this is great news for those in the job market, companies should be looking to promote IT staff internally, rather than look externally for new and expensive talent, says online training firm SkillSoft.

"If there is to be an uptake in demand for skilled IT workers, a clear learning direction is vital to produce experts with the right training to protect the UK's infrastructure and stay one step ahead of the latest threats," said Tony Glass, European regional sales director for SkillSoft.

Organisations should look to provide internal training to allow IT departments to achieve higher learning objectives and increase industry awareness, he says.

There are numerous standards, qualifications, certificates and exams throughout the IT industry that can provide the accelerated learning required for IT departments to achieve the skills they need and increase awareness.

"By managing the staff talent internally, organisations of all sectors of the market can realise the benefits of having highly talented, loyal and productive workforce in a cost effective way," said Glass.