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Cybersecurity in the Manufacturing Industry

Florida manufacturers seek innovation in cybersecurity with new talent

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According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), continued innovation in cybersecurity practices is critical to our nation's growing infrastructure and economy.

NIST cited that each breach costs a company an average of $60,000. The same report cited over 61% of small businesses were attacked in 2019, and 34% of documented attacks targeted manufacturers.

One way to measure the growing need for cybersecurity innovations in the manufacturing industry is to measure job posting intensity for cyber-related jobs. O*Net, the primary source for occupational information in the U.S., classifies jobs by occupation categories. Most cybersecurity jobs fall under the Information Security Analyst occupation category.

O*Net Sample of Reported Job Titles

     • Data Security Administrator 
     • Information Security Officer
     • Information Security Specialist
     • Information Systems Security Analyst
     • Information Systems Security Officer
     • Information Technology Security Analyst
     • Information Technology Specialist
     • Security Analyst
     • Systems Analyst
     • Network Security Analyst

Job posting intensity measures the number of unique jobs versus the total number. For example, in Florida, there are 1,567 unique job postings and 12,216 total job postings for Information Security Analysts in the Manufacturing Industry. The two numbers create a job posting ratio of 8:1, for every unique job, there are 8 total jobs. The higher the ratio, the more aggressively an organization is looking for talent.

When the same job is looked at across all industries, the posting intensity is 6:1. This means that on average the manufacturing industry has a harder time finding cybersecurity talent compared to other industries.

This trend is evident in Northwest Florida. The NWFL manufacturing industry has 157 unique job postings and 1,112 total postings, creating a 7:1 posting ratio. The same occupation in Northwest Florida decreases to a 6:1 ratio when measured amongst all industries. So, the manufacturing industry are more aggressive when looking for cybersecurity talent not only on a state level, but a regional level as well.