Dive Brief:

• A new GovInfoSecurity report found that no growth occurred in the information security workforce during the first half of 2015.

• (ISC)² had also released a report claiming there will be a shortage of 1.5 million IT security professionals worldwide in the next five years.

• More than six in 10 security professionals said their organizations could use more security professionals, the (ISC)² report found.

Dive Insight:

GovInfoSecurity found that 73,800 people were working as information security analysts in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2015 — almost the exact same number reported in the first quarter. The stagnation is apparently due simply to a lack of qualified individuals. Over the past three and a half years, the IT security workforce has grown 62%, which isn't enough to meet demand.

Due to this shortage, new approaches are needed to ensure both public and private entities get the skills they need to address IT security challenges. One idea currently being promoted is “swarming” — where people from a variety of organizations work together to address a security problem. In addition, some experts suggest CIOs develop relationships with their counterparts to determine ways they might cooperatively address IT security threats.