The Silicon Review ^Asia

Millions of jobs are in danger due to lack of projects/business, and there are only a handful of jobs that are coronavirus proof. Among them, cybersecurity is the one to talk about. Due to increased online payments and other financial activities, IT vendors catering to the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector are hiring more cyber security professionals. As companies continue to work remotely and look to improve the security measures of their networks, demand for cybersecurity roles is on the topamid lockdown to combat the Covid-19 virus outbreak. Cybersecurity incidents involving video conferencing app Zoom and at IT services provider Cognizant have also forced companies to improve safeguards. “Demand has gone up by up to 15%,” Sunil C, head-specialized staffing at Teamlease Digital said.

“There were a lot of open positions for cybersecurity and, in between, this Covid-19 pandemic has happened. There is an increase in demand, particularly from the Big Four consulting companies and the IT services companies catering to the BFSI sector,” he added. The last couple of weeks have seen a deferment in onboarding of new employees, but the demand remains, he said. However, for positions like digitization (specialists) and regular developer skills, demand has fallen, “so these position have been withdrawn”, he added.

Hiring for cybersecurity roles will be priority for companies after the lockdown is lifted, Anand Ramakrishnan, CEO of Qtek Systems, a Quess Corp company, said. “The nature of cybersecurity professionals will change. People who have more knowledge of endpoints detection and response and video conferencing, for example, will be more in demand,” Ramakrishnan said.