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Contributed By:
Richard Stiennon

Following help wanted postings is one technique an analyst uses to measure the state of a particular industry.  Competitive Intelligence analysts keep an eye on job postings as well.

They can tell what a competitor is up to by the specific qualifications listed.  C++? Java? GUI developers?  All are details that can paint a picture of future developments at a technology company.

I used to regularly search Monster.com for the key word “security” which was a good way to gage demand for security people. The trouble with that is you also get all the security guard positions (which, btw, is a bigger industry than IT security.)

An article from the Washington Post had said that the US Federal Government is having trouble competing with defense contractors for security talent. Yet, I had lunch with a  partner at  one of the Big 4 Accounting firms a couple of months ago and he told me that the government  is out-bidding them for security people in D.C.

If you are on Linkedin do a search on “cyber” in the advanced job tab.   You get 1,012 results.  Some of the titles are interesting:

• Cyber Watch Analyst at SRA International
• Network Intelligence Analyst, Packet Data... at CyberCoders
• Sr. Cyber Security Intelligence Analyst  at Verisign
• Cyber Warrior - C/C++ Java Developer   at un-named
• Cyber Expert  at SRC
• Cyber Gladiator V  at Raytheon
• Cyber Elite Ninja III at Raytheon

This demand for security savvy talent is going to have repercussions.  One is that salaries, at least in the D.C. area, are going to increase across the board. 

This hiring binge is also a sign of a transformation in the security industry as governments and defense contractors muscle their way into the space.  The security industry is entering a transformational phase. 

Within a short time frame, two years at the most, the security industry will no longer be dominated by the handful of large security vendors, Symantec, McAfee, RSA the Security Division of EMC, or IBM. 

It will be dominated by large defense contractors.  Look for major acquisitions by Raytheon, Northrup Grumman, and Lockheed Martin through 2010.

Comments (3)

	1. 09-11-2010 05:35
	I think that the only surprising thing about this trend is that it has not happened sooner. I think that increased value placed on cybersecurity skills by governments and defense contractors is a good thing, and hopefully there will be ways to grow the talent base vs. bidding wars for existing talent. Registered

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	2. 09-19-2010 21:17
	I believe this should be interesting to watch as well. I also am a bit surprised that it took some of these companies this long to get a clue. I will be watching to see if these major traditionally security players do take over the market or if the existing I.S. players just move some of their focus into these government gigs.    -sean Registered

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	3. 09-21-2010 21:10
	CISSP might be a nice certifcation to pursue if you currently work in the defense industry... Registered

Fred Kauber

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