According to the Cnam, National Conservatory of Arts and crafts, specialists in this field will be sought. "Today, digital technology is central to the life of a company. It has become essential to protect all data on the web in order to fight against cyber attacks, which are increasing in number and intensity."
At the CNAM Occitanie (National Conservatory of Arts and crafts), where dedicated training courses are launched, we recall why specialists in security and data protection have become, today, rare commodities. Rare because the demand is strong and constantly important. It is also true that there is not yet a real training system for these specialists. Although initiatives are beginning to emerge.
"A truncated vision"
"Demand is important because everything is digitalized. If there's a problem, it's all blocked. It is important because the threat has become so", explains Renaud Ghia, head of Tixeo, a European leader in secure videoconferencing based in Montpellier. He now regrets the "lack of training courses in this field".
At the CNAM Occitanie, it is recalled that there will be "80,000 vacant jobs in computer security by 2020". And 2020 is tomorrow. In the region of Occitania alone," 6,500 jobs will be needed by 2026", insists Fabienne Maubert-Le Dren, the regional director of Cnam. She also points out that "65 % of French companies suffered a cyber attack in 2017".
Recruitment needs are therefore important. "Until then, we were in a defense mode, with antivirus. Today, we anticipate attacks through artificial intelligence, which allows protection before risk. That's why we recruit a lot of data scientists. For 2020, we plan to recruit a dozen, " says Clément Saad, President of Pradeo, a Montpellier-based specialist in mobile security solutions.
In the Toulouse-based company iTrut, a cybersecurity software services and publishing company, we recognize the difficulty of recruiting. "We are going to look for our skills abroad where they are more ahead of us in terms of training," explains Marion Maillard, recruitment officer.
A school in Toulouse
The solution was found at iTrut, which has an average age of 25 and continues to recruit (about 30 this year). Its founders have just launched a special school to "overcome this lack of training". Named AN21, it is based in Toulouse. "We are preparing Bachelor's and Master's degrees in cybersecurity on courses from bac + 2 to bac + 5."
Aware of the sector's challenges, particularly in the area of employment, the Occitanie region has created, through its ad'occ structure, the cyber'occ Portal, an information and support tool in cybersecurity. "We help companies secure themselves and develop a recruitment approach," says Caroline De Rubiana, head of cybersecurity. She notes that " people have a truncated vision of cybersecurity ; they think it's very technophile, including those who are in a process of professional reconversion."
If they can't find the right person, companies also opt for in-house training. "We recruit development engineers specialising in networks and train them ourselves," says Ghia. In recent years, a new position, the information systems security officer (isso), has emerged. Sign of a full-fledged security strategy.
