GUEST OPINION: How validated skills, continual learning, and structured certification paths strengthen security teams and reduce risk.
Cybersecurity remains one of the most consequential business risks facing every organisation. The Fortinet 2025 Global Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report shows that the gap between the skills that organisations need and the talent available remains stubbornly wide, contributing directly to rising breach rates, rising financial losses, and pervasive operational stress.
According to the report, 86 per cent of organisations experienced one or more cyber breaches in 2024, with 28 per cent reporting five or more incidents. Additionally, 67 per cent of organisations say the cybersecurity skills gap has increased their overall risk, and more than half attribute breaches directly to a lack of security skills and training (54 per cent) and to a lack of cybersecurity awareness (56 per cent).
These findings make one thing clear: hiring and retaining people with validated skills and practical knowledge is no longer optional. Certifications have become one of the most effective ways to demonstrate and scale that capability.
Why the skills gap still matters
The report highlights several core dynamics shaping today’s workforce challenges, including:
- A majority of organisations still cite the lack of IT security skills and training as a major cause of breaches.
- A global shortage of cybersecurity professionals continues to leave critical roles unfilled, even as threat actors and AI-accelerated attacks grow more sophisticated.
- Financial consequences of breaches remain significant, with more than half of organisations reporting incidents costing over US$1 million in 2024.
These statistics are not abstractions. They translate into delayed detection, slower response times, and increased risk exposure across hybrid IT environments, cloud operations, and critical digital infrastructure.
In response, business leaders are increasingly positioning the recruitment of cybersecurity talent, not just tools, at the centre of their resilience strategies.
Certifications as proof of operational readiness
For hiring managers and security leaders, certifications serve four indispensable purposes:
- Validated competence: Certifications provide evidence that individuals can apply skills in real contexts, not just memorise theory.
- Standard benchmarks: Standards give organisations consistent, comparable skill milestones across diverse candidate pools.
- Career pathways: Structured certification levels help employees and teams map progression from foundational to advanced roles.
- Retention signals: Employers that invest in certification support communicate value and development opportunities that improve retention. One of the top retention issues listed was a lack of training and upskilling opportunities (48%).
This is reflected in employer preferences: 89 per cent of IT decision-makers prefer to hire candidates with professional certifications, according to the report.
Skills-first hiring in a competitive labour market
One notable trend from the report is that certification often outweighs traditional academic credentials in hiring decisions. The report reinforces the shift toward skills-based hiring, with 89 per cent of IT decision-makers saying they prefer candidates with professional certifications, reflecting growing emphasis on validated, role-ready skills over traditional credentials alone.
This shift reflects practical market realities. Cyberthreats evolve more rapidly than most academic programs. Certifications that are refreshed regularly, including hands-on labs, scenario-based assessments, and real-world problem-solving, tend to be better aligned with what organisations actually need day-to-day.
It also opens the door for non-traditional talent pipelines: professionals from adjacent disciplines, career switchers, veterans, and learners without traditional degrees can build credible security expertise at scale when supported with clear certification pathways.
Certifications and organisational resilience
The implications of certifications extend beyond hiring. When organisations invest in capability development, they see improvements in:
- incident detection and response times
- consistency of policy implementation
- operational collaboration across teams
- ability to absorb and adapt to evolving threats.
Those outcomes matter because breaches are not just technical failures. They are organisational failures. Reducing the number and severity of breaches directly connects to business continuity, reputation, and financial performance.
Certified teams, backed by structured learning pathways, help organisations transform talent from a risk factor into a strategic asset.
Closing the skills gap is a business priority
The 2025 Global Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report reinforces that closing the skills gap is not just an HR challenge. It is a business priority. To address this challenge, organisations must rethink hiring practices, fund capability development, and expand access to deploy skills where they matter most.
Certifications are not a silver bullet. However, they are one of the few levers that can reliably signal capability in a market where threats and technologies evolve faster than many traditional education models.
