Nearly half of cybersecurity professionals want to quit, survey finds

A global survey of more than 3,600 technology professionals found that cybersecurity specialists are among the least rewarded and most dissatisfied workers in the industry. The Harvey Nash Global Tech Talent & Salary Report concluded that almost half of cybersecurity professionals want to move jobs in the next 12 months, well above the global average of 39 percent across technology roles. Only 29 percent of cyber professionals reported receiving a pay increase in the past year. By comparison, at least half of tech workers in DevOps, product management, and business analysis received raises. The report suggests the mismatch stems from boardroom complacency: when security teams prevent attacks, executives assume all is well and overlook the effort involved. The survey also found that 23 percent of security specialists are unhappy in their roles, making them the third-most dissatisfied IT professionals globally. Ankur Anand, group CIO at Nash Squared, warned that this despondency could leave enterprises vulnerable. While 80 percent of organizations have not suffered a major attack in the past two years, failure to retain talented staff could put the next target in the firing line. Anand said working pressure is likely to increase further as AI-enabled threats evolve. He pointed to Anthropic's Mythos as an example of how AI can expose dormant vulnerabilities. At the same time, 48 percent of cybersecurity professionals do not feel threatened by AI taking their jobs, and Anand encouraged them to develop AI, strategy, and communication skills to stay competitive.