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Despite concerns from some quarters about tech layoffs and a possible recession, hiring cybersecurity workers remains a top priority for many organizations as infrastructure and network threats remain a constant cause of concern.

This demand for cybersecurity talent, in turn, has tech workers looking to upskill their knowledge base to keep up with these needs, as well as to take advantage of a market that is creating lucrative and career-changing opportunities for those with a range of security skills. An August report published by Pluralsight confirms this trend and finds that cybersecurity has replaced cloud computing as the area with the largest tech skills gap.

The study of 700 tech pros in the U.S., Europe, Australia and India found that about 43 percent of respondents ranked cybersecurity as their top skill concern in 2022, compared to 39 percent who ranked cloud as first. The researchers also found that 44 percent of those surveyed listed cybersecurity as the one skills gap that poses the greatest threat to their organization.

"Cybersecurity is a hot field to be in right now and there is no shortage of interest in learning and participating in cybersecurity as a career path," Casey Ellis, founder and CTO at Bugcrowd, recently told Dice. "The needs in cybersecurity are so rapidly evolving and dynamic that the problem could be better described as a talent-matching problem. Therefore, skills identification and on-the-job training is a logical solution."

Ellis' comments dovetail with the survey results, which show nine in 10 respondents want to improve their tech skills to fulfill personal career goals, and another 86 percent want these skills to reflect their organizations' overall strategy. The major issue, however, is that many tech pros don't see their companies dedicating enough time to improving skills or allowing for upskilling, according to the report.

"This data shows a misalignment between technologists' desire to hone their skills and organizations' willingness to dedicate time for upskilling," the Pluralsight report noted. "Technologists are eager to gain skills to make their organizations more successful. Business leaders must allocate resources and time to help technologists achieve their upskilling goals."

A Need for a More Skilled Cybersecurity Workforce

The so-called skills gap in cybersecurity has been well-documented-one report found about 700,000 unfulfilled cyber positions in the U.S. alone. The Pluralsight report and security experts have all emphasized the need for additional skills to help fill these openings.

"Despite the uncertainty in the economy, organizations are not slowing down their innovation and cybersecurity investments to keep their business on cutting edge," John Yun, vice president for product strategy at security firm ColorTokens, told Dice. "Organizations are putting serious dollars and resources behind initiatives such as zero trust and microsegmentation to combat modern cyber threats. When you couple the accelerated pace of innovations with the new modern security concepts and products, the need for cybersecurity experts shows no sign of slowing down."

Yun also points out that many organizations lack employees with adequate cloud skills at a time when many of these enterprises are adopting multiple cloud platforms, compounding the two areas of tech-cloud and cybersecurity-with the greatest skills gaps.

"In the past two years, not only have organizations accelerated their cloud adoption, they have fully embraced multi-cloud," Yun added. "For security professionals, that means he or she must keep up-to-date on the latest vulnerabilities at the application level but also within different public cloud services such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. We haven't addressed the fundamental shortage of cybersecurity experts, yet we've moved the goalpost even further away."

Stan Black, CISO at security firm Deline, also sees a lack of cybersecurity and cloud skills at a time when organizations are adopting more of these technologies and attackers are switching their techniques to target vulnerable SaaS-based applications.

"Today's hybrid security engineer must know how to protect all of the hard targets of the past, plus code scripts and code, and have a handle on Azure, AWS and GCP," Black told Dice. "They also need expertise hardening Kubernetes and Docker DevOps assets. Being skilled in modern security toolsets for cloud, privileged access and identity management, and real-life implementation of concepts like zero-trust and least privilege, have all become table stakes for operating in today's environment."

For tech professionals who seek out upskilling opportunities within their organizations (or workers who take time to learn outside of business hours), the potential career rewards remain significant.

"Not only are these skills still in high demand, but skilled individuals in this space continue to command strong compensation packages, even within industries that are hunkering down and becoming conservative on spending in other areas," Black added. "Having experience and training in these mission-critical areas differentiates the cybersecurity candidate and can move their resume to the top of the list."

What Cyber Skills Matter?

For those tech and security professionals working for organizations that allow upskilling, several security experts believe learning more about how cloud platforms work can help solidify their knowledge base.

"The key to narrowing the cybersecurity skills gap moving forward is cloud-native engineering knowledge," John Steven, CTO at security firm ThreatModeler, told Dice. "No, it's not realistic for organizations to build a team of pro-'pen testers' in 12 months, but it is realistic to enhance an engineering team's awareness of cloud service providers' security controls and enabling security services through cloud providers' training and certification programs. Cloud certifications can guide hiring as well as provide a roadmap for continuing the education of existing staff."

Other security experts look for even more specific skills. For instance, Grant Kahn, senior director of security intelligence engineering at Lookout, seeks candidates who know specific programming languages, including Python (which he considers mandatory), Go and Java. Other skills include a deep knowledge of Linux as well as some familiarity with Kubernetes.

If a candidate can show they have a deep understanding of how networks work, or detailed knowledge of potential security vulnerabilities within an app, they have a significant advantage over their peers.

"When I hire people, I look for people who were-for example-a network engineer for five years and they found that the most interesting part of the network engineering job was the security part," Kahn told Dice.

"Or they were an application developer for years, and they figured that the security bits of that were the most interesting and now they want to be an application security person," Kahn added. "In other words, I look for somebody who's already got the deep technical background and is building security knowledge. That's true in the cloud, too, right? You're going to want to have the understanding of the systems and then the security understanding. Those are separate but related."

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Cybersecurity Demand is Driving Upskilling Among Technologists

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Despite concerns from some quarters about tech layoffs and a possible recession, hiring cybersecurity workers remains a top priority for many organizations as infrastructure and network threats remain a constant cause of concern.

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One of the stunning James Webb telescope images is now being used by malicious actors to spread malware among devices.

An image from the first set of James Webb telescope photos is now being exploited by cybercriminals, who are hiding malicious code within files to spread malware.

Some James Webb Image Files Are Now a Security Threat

In July 2022, the first images captured by the James Webb telescope were released to the public. These highly detailed photos gave the world further insight into what the universe looks like. However, this amazing event is now being capitalized upon by malicious actors.

It was found in September 2022 by security analytics firm Securonix that one of the first five James Webb images is now being exploited by hackers to spread malware. Securonix has coined it the "GO#WEBBFUSCATOR" malware campaign, with the "GO" relating to the kind of coding language used in the venture, Golang.

Golang has been around for some time, but only had its first stable release in August 2022. And, in a very short space of time, malicious parties began using this language to spread malware. One of the main reasons for this is that Golang is cross-platform. It can be used on Windows, Linux, macOS, and a number of other systems, which is perfect for an attacker looking to spread malware as much as possible.

Hackers are using this James Webb photo to spread malware by hiding malicious code within the image file. Then, when the victim downloads the image onto their device, the malware is also installed. Phishing emails are being used as a vehicle to spread the malicious image file in the form of a Microsoft Office attachment titled "Geos-Rates.docx".

If certain Word macros are enabled on a victim's device, a URL within the malicious attachment can download a file and a script, which can then download the James Webb image containing the malware.

This Malware Has Gone Undetected by Antivirus Programs

Securonix stated in a blog post that this malware could not be detected by any antivirus program used in their analysis. The firm listed an array of different programs that were unable to pick up on the malware, including BitDefender and Acronis.

This malware's ability to bypass detection makes it particularly dangerous, as it can more easily be spread among devices.

Phishing Continues to Be a Popular Malware Distribution Vector

As time passes, phishing attacks are becoming more and more common, be it among organizations or individuals. This is why cybersecurity experts stress the importance of vigilance when it comes to the communications you receive, be it by email, SMS, or social media messages.

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Hackers Exploit James Webb Telescope Image to Spread Malware

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One of the stunning James Webb telescope images is now being used by malicious actors to spread malware among devices. An image from the first set of James Webb telescope photos is now being exploited by cybercriminals, who are hiding malicious code within files to spread malware.

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This overlooked cybersecurity risk could create an ocean of trouble for us all

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Global supply chains rely on the smooth running of shipping and ports, but maritime cybersecurity is too often a low priority.

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The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in a new warning they anticipate ransomware attacks could increase as the new school year begins.

"The FBI, CISA, and the MS-ISAC anticipate attacks may increase as the 2022/2023 school year begins and criminal ransomware groups perceive opportunities for successful attacks," the joint bulletin released Tuesday said.

CISA is the cyber arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

The seal of the FBI is seen on a wall at the FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 14, 2022.

Bryan Olin Dozier/NurPhoto/Shutterstock, FILE

The warning is timely -- one of the nation's largest school districts the Los Angeles Unified School Department fell victim to a ransomware attack over the weekend.

Law enforcement warns that smaller school districts are the most vulnerable because they have the least amount of resources to prevent an attack.

"School districts with limited cybersecurity capabilities and constrained resources are often the most vulnerable; however, the opportunistic targeting often seen with cyber criminals can still put school districts with robust cybersecurity programs at risk. K-12 institutions may be seen as particularly lucrative targets due to the amount of sensitive student data accessible through school systems or their managed service providers," the bulletin says.

Specifically, the FBI and CISA said they are seeing activity against schools from one particular group called the Vice Society "disproportionately targeting the education sector with ransomware attacks."

The tradecraft of Vice Society actors, officials said, has been identified "through FBI investigations as recently as September 2022."

The LAUSD superintendent said on Monday the group is associated with the LAUSD ransomware attack.

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Feds anticipate ransomware attacks against schools could increase as new year begins

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in a new warning they anticipate ransomware attacks could increase as the new school year begins. "The FBI, CISA, and the MS-ISAC anticipate attacks may increase as the 2022/2023 school year begins and criminal ransomware groups perceive opportunities for successful attacks," the joint bulletin released Tuesday said.

# data[].attributes.body
- Schools with limited cybersecurity will be the most vulnerable to attacks
- K-12 are high targets due to the amount of student data there is
- Vice society, a group that targets the educational area with ransomware attacks

# data[].attributes.body
1.  9 in 10 respondents want to improve their tech skills to fulfill personal career goals
2. Many organizations lack employees with adequate cloud skills at a time when many of these enterprises are adopting cloud platforms
3. Cloud- native engineering knowledge narrows the cybersecurity skills gap.

# data[].attributes.body
1.) The Hackers were using a language called Golang, which had been around for some time but only had it's first stable release in August 2022.
2.) They used Golang because it was cross platform, meaning that they could spread the malware across Windows, MacOS, Linux, and other systems with one script.
3.) The hackers used phishing to spread the image to other systems.

# data[].attributes.body
1. Cybersecurity has replaced cloud computing and has the largest tech skills gap.
2. Even though the economy is unstable, companies are hiring even more people to assist them with cybersecurity.
3. The three most important things cybersecurity experts need to know are AWS, Azure, and GCP.

# data[].attributes.body
1) Hackers are hiding malicious codes within James Webb's first picture that was captured by his telescope.
2) As soon as one victim clicks on the image that malware installs into their computer and causes a lot of harm to the system.
3) Hackers are using various languages such as Golang inside this malware code.

# data[].attributes.body
-over 80% of the volume of international trade in goods is carried by sea and that percentage is even higher for developing countries.
-Ports and shipping are becoming more connected with the internet, suggesting an increased risk of hackers doing damage.
-US Coast Guard Cyber Command has warned of a 68% rise of reported cyber incidents against the sector during the last year alone.

# data[].attributes.body
-Los Angeles public school system fell victim to a ransomware attack over the weekend
-Department of Homeland security has a cyber department
-Schools are often victims of cyber attacks because of the amount of sensitive information they gather about students and teachers.

# data[].attributes.body
-There was a report that found 700,000 unfulfilled cyber positions in the US alone.
-Cybersecurity has replaced cloud computing as the area with the largest tech skills gap.
-9 in 10 respondents want to improve their tech skills to fulfill personal career goals

# data[].attributes.body
1. Hackers used a coding language called Golang
2. A malicious attachment was embedded into a photo take by the James Webb telescope and downloading the photo would download a virus
3. Golang was used because it works on a lot of different operating systems

# data[].attributes.body
A security analytics firm named Securinox found that one of the first 5 James Webb images is being exploited by hackers in order to spread malware

They do this by putting malware into an image so when a user downloads the image, a malware is installed with it. The main tactic the hackers are using is phishing emails.

The malware was exceptionally dangerous due to the fact that malware was undetectable when Securinox tried to find it with an antivirus

# data[].attributes.body
1. Over 80 percent of international trade in goods are shipped over seas

2. There had been cyberattacks already happening because ports and shipping are becoming more connected to the internets

3. Managing the technology on a ship is way different than on a PC in an office. The lack of connection could be hard to download security patches and software updates

# data[].attributes.body
1. Smaller school districts are most vulnerable to these attacks since they do not have enough sources to prevent the attack.
2. K-12 institutions may be seen as targets. They have sensitive student data accessible through school systems or third party service providers.
3. A group called VICE SOCIETY who is targeting education sector for ransomware attacks.

# data[].attributes.body
- The FBI is warning of a potential increase in ransomware attacks against school systems.
- According to law enforcement, smaller school districts are at risk the most because of their weak cybersecurity
- There is a group called Vice Society that is "disproportionately targeting the education sector with ransomware attacks

# data[].attributes.body
-Smaller school districts are at greater risk of ransomware attacks as the new year begins
-A well known group called "Vice Society" is known by the FBI and CISA for targeting the education sector with attacks
-Schools/K-12 is being targeted due to being able to access student sensitive data

# data[].attributes.body
1. The demand for cybersecurity talent has tech workers trying to upskill their knowledge base to keep up with needs.

2. cybersecurity has now replaced cloud computing it is now the largest tech skill gaps.

3. A major issue is that a lot of tech pros don't see companies dedicating themselves to improve their skills.

# data[].attributes.body
The U.S., Europe, Australia, and India have top skill tech people that are good with cybersecurity.
In the past two years, not only have organizations accelerated their cloud adoption.
Skilled individuals in this space continue to command strong compensation packages.

# data[].attributes.body
1, The study of 700 tech pros in the U.S., Europe, Australia and India found that about 43 percent of respondents ranked cybersecurity as their top skill concern in 2022, compared to 39 percent who ranked cloud as first.

2, The researchers also found that 44 percent of those surveyed listed cybersecurity as the one skills gap that poses the greatest threat to their organization.

3, nine in 10 respondents want to improve their tech skills to fulfill personal career goals, and another 86 percent want these skills to reflect their organizations’ overall strategy

# data[].attributes.body
1. smaller school districts are the most vulnerable because they have the least amount of resources to prevent an attack.
2. school districts are targeted a lot because they have lots of student data
3. the attackers use ransomware

# data[].attributes.body
-Smaller school districts face higher chances of cyber attacks due to limited cybersecurity
-The amount of sensitive information in the system for grades k-12 is putting a target on all schools this year
The FBI predicts any information attacked will be held for ransom

# data[].attributes.body
- Due to increased connectivity to the internet, ports and shipping has become a large target for cyberattacks.
- The maritime industry is underprepared for the cyberattacks.
- The environment of the computers, being on ships, makes it more difficult to protect from attacks.

# data[].attributes.body
1. The FBI, CISA, and the MS-ISAC anticipate attacks may increase as the 2022/2023 school year begins and criminal ransomware groups perceive opportunities for successful attacks

2.The warning is timely -- one of the nation's largest school districts the Los Angeles Unified School Department fell victim to a ransomware attack over the weekend.

3.K-12 institutions may be seen as particularly lucrative targets due to the amount of sensitive student data accessible through school systems or their managed service providers