McAfee’s new report brought up some interesting facts…

They had a survey, in which 300 senior security managers and 650 security professionals were asked. 78% of them says that those who grew up playing video games and are entering the workforce could quickly get a job in cybersecurity roles.

92% of the answerers say that gaming gets them skills necessary for threat hunting (logic, perseverance, an understanding of how to approach adversaries, and a more fresh outlook than the older workers’). 75% of the respondents would also hire them even without any experience in the subject; 72% says that hiring gamers into the IT department would plug the skills gap, too. However, 46% thinks that they will struggle in the next twelve months to keep up with the increase and the complexity of the cybersecurity threats.

IT security staff should be expanded by 24% to adequately manage the threats to their organization, but 84% of the respondents say that it’s hard for them to attract talent, and 81% of them says that if there were more automatization (in other words: let machines/computers/robots do some work), the cybersecurity would be more successful. McAfee says that the machines could focus on basic tasks while the human workforce could focus on unknown threats. Automation-wise, a quarter of the respondents said that it would help the employees focus on innovation and value-added work, and 32% thinks that those who do not invest in it lacks in-house skills.

We also need to mention gamification, where non-gaming tasks are paired with game-related events. It is getting more and more important in cybersecurity to perform better. (Examples? Capture the flag, bug hunting, red vs. blue team.) 96% of the respondents say that it’s useful within the company, and 43% believes it enforces teamwork, too, for quick and efficient cybersecurity. 77% of the senior managers say that their company would be more secure if there were more gamification than now. 57% reported that games increase awareness and thus, the IT security team would know how breaches happen.

In other words: games are not useless. They make us think in a way that is useful in cybersecurity, and they also bring out a different way to approach these threats. If we are team players, it would also make it easier to find a job in this portion of the workforce. (We’re applying right now.)

Source: VentureBeat