51% say automation will result in job loss for IT security pros
.jpg)
For IT security professionals, automation is reducing stress levels in the short term but threatening job security in the future.
A majority of companies are still having a hard time finding and keeping qualified IT security people, according to a new survey by the Ponemon Institute and DomainTools. At the same time, 51% of respondents believe that automation will cut the headcount in the security department, up from 30% in last year's study.
Also, 37% of respondents think they will lose their jobs in the next four years.
"The 2020 Study on Staffing the IT Security Function in the Age of Automation" found a strange reality that combined hiring challenges and some positive impacts of automation with predictions of smaller security teams in the near future.
The survey of 1,027 IT security professionals in the US and the UK found that short-handed security teams are glad to have help in triaging the increasing amount of daily alerts, which was 407 in 2019 but up to 468 in 2020.
Seventy-four percent of respondents said automation allows staff to focus on more serious vulnerabilities and overall network security. Only 42% said automation helps with time intensive, manual processes that are mission critical but not a good use of staff time.
Among the 24% of companies that are not using automation, the top two reasons were a lack of in-house expertise and a heavy reliance on legacy IT.
James Litton, CEO and co-founder of Identity Automation, said that artificial intelligence and machine learning are not ready to take over most security tasks.
"In terms of serious decision making, it's nowhere close to being able to take one the role of making good pragmatic decisions for business," he said.
Fifty-four percent of survey respondents agreed, stating that automation will never replace human intuition and hands-on experience.
Litton said the best application he sees for AI and ML is increased authentication based on a user's habits. An algorithm could monitor an individual's behavior and flag actions that stray outside the normal routine.
"If a user doesn't usually access Oracle financials in the middle of the month, and you see that occur, it could raise a red flag for further authentication," he said.
The 2020 survey asked IT pros about the pros and cons of automation as well as what solutions they are using to protect company assets.
Benefits of automating IT security
On the bright side, 60% of respondents say automation is helping to reduce the stress on the security team. Also, 43% said automation is reducing the rate of false positive and false negative reports.
The security work most likely to be automated now or to become automated in the next three years includes:
- Log analysis 68%
- Threat hunting 60%
- Malware analysis 57%
- Pen testing 47%
- Incident response 40%
In the 2019 survey, only 15% of respondents said that DevOps was a likely candidate for automation but this year that was up to 37%.
Respondents said these were the top 5 benefits of automation:
- Increases productivity
- Reduces false positives and false negatives
- Increases the speed of analyzing threats
- Improves the ability to prioritize threats
- Accelerates the containment of infected endpoints/devices/hosts
Drawbacks of automation
In this year's survey, more respondents said automation will reduce the headcount of the IT security team at 51% up from 30% in 2019.
Also, fewer people agreed with the idea that automation would increase the need to hire people with more advanced technical skills, 43% in 2019 as compared to 35% in 2020.
Slightly more people think automation will make jobs more complex, 50% in 2020 vs. 47% in 2019. More people said automation is not capable of performing certain tasks that humans can do, 74% in 2020 and 68% in 2019.
Finally, 10% more respondents said automation is not able to catch certain threats, 45% in 2020 and 35% in 2019.
About the online poll
The Ponemon Institute, with sponsorship from DomainTools, conducted an online survey of 1,027 IT and IT security practitioners in the US and the UK who are responsible for hiring, promoting and retaining IT security employees. Respondents have been at their current position for an average of 6.5 years and have an average of 9.3 years of relevant experience.
source techrepublic
Industry: Cyber Security

Latest Jobs
-
- Sailpoint IIQ Consultant
- London
- Up to £75,000
-
SailPoint IIQ consultant- London We are looking for a strong SailPoint IIQ consultant to work for this global enterprise, in this position you will be the lead consultant in regard to the IAM and PAM tools Duties include Responsible for designing, developing, testing, implementing, and integrating IAM (SailPoint) systems and solutions. Assessing requirements for Identity and Access Management solutions to meet stakeholders needs. Provide support for production IAM infrastructure systems and processes. Ensures the maintenance, patching, operating, and monitoring of IAM systems. Ensures senior management and staff are informed of any changes and updates in a timely manner. Experience with Maintaining and supporting SailPoint IIQ Assessing requirements for Privilege Access Management solutions to meet stakeholders needs We are looking for someone with the following experience SailPoint IIQ experience Expertise working with SailPoint Identity IQ platform - Access Lifecycle Management, Certifications, Role Management Expertise in onboarding applications with various connectors like Active Directory, JDBC, SCIM 2.0, Azure Active Directory Expertise in developing APIs (SCIM, REST) leveraging Java based developmentExperience of Privileged Access Management concepts and use cases Unfortunatly we are unable to provide sponsorship for this opportunity, therefore applications will need to be able to work in the UK
-
- SailPoint Consultant- Netherland-
- Netherlands
- upto €700 per day
-
We are looking for a highly skilled SailPoint IIQ Consultant to work on a major deployment project. The ideal candidate will have experience with all aspects of SailPoint IIQ, including development, configuration, and administration. They will also be able to work independently and as part of a team to deliver high-quality results. · Responsibilities · Develop and configure Sailpoint IIQ solutions · Integrate SailPoint IIQ with other systems · Support SailPoint IIQ deployments · Provide technical support to users If you are a highly skilled SailPoint IIQ consultant who is looking for their next project, we encourage you to apply. look forward to hearing from you!
-
- Lead CyberArk deployment Consultant
- London
- Upto £80,000 plus benefits
-
CyberArk Consultant is needed to be responsible for leading the deployment of CyberArk solutions for this expanding IT services business, You will work with customer both pre and post sales, getting involved in CyberArk Solution Design, helping to create CyberArk Strategic Roadmaps, on-boarding accounts, product and process integration into the CyberArk Solution and Proviso of Installation and technical Documentation. We are looking for this individual to have experience in: Installation of CyberArk PAS for V11.X and V12.X (Vault, DR Vault, Central Policy Manager and Password Vault Web Access) Upgrade of CyberArk from V9 and V10 (Vault, DR Vault, Central Policy Manager and Password Vault Web Access) Installation and Upgrade of Privilege Session Manager and Privilege Session Manager Proxy As some of your client will be government site, all individual will need to be put through SC clearance, therefore you must be eligible to receive this and happy to be put through(With a British Citizen or to have lived in the UK for the past 5 years) We are unable to provide work visa sponsorship for this opportunity
-
- Senior Business Analyst - Outside IR35 Contract, SC Clearance Required, London
- London
- £400 per day outside IR35
-
Senior Business Analyst - Outside IR35 Contract, SC Clearance Required, Based in London Project- to engage with colleagues and stakeholders to investigate and model business functions, processes, information flows and data structures, using a range of business analysis techniques. • You will translate the solution to the business problem into detailed requirements by creating user stories and well-defined acceptance criteria. • Elicit end-to-end business requirements for a live cross-government service • Working across the Government departments to bring together varied business and operational outcomes to form a holistic overall set of service requirements Current SC clearance is required. As is the ability to travel to London.