CISOs hired at record pace amidst COVID-era spike in security controls.
Exploding COVID-era demand for cybersecurity management skills has driven a spike in Australian CISO hires, pushing salaries for security executives well past those commanded by any other major role in the IT industry except for CIOs and CTOs.
Median salaries for CISOs surged to $230,000 in Sydney and Melbourne, $220,000 in Brisbane, and $160,000 in Perth, according to the latest Robert Half Salary Guide 2021, which highlights current salary spreads across a range of industries.
For CISOs, it’s a seller’s market
Top-tier CISOs paid at the 95th percentile could command salaries of as much as $300,000, the report found — well ahead of any other roles except CIOs and CTOs, who could earn as much as $350,000 in Sydney and $380,000 in Melbourne.
Other key cybersecurity roles were also being rewarded handsomely, with Melbourne IT security managers, for example, earning as much as $230,000, cybersecurity specialists as much as $190,000, IT security specialists as much as $180,000, and network security engineers as much as $170,000.
The figures are lead indicators of a surge in demand for security skills that has seen companies both hiring more security specialists, and increasing their salary offers to ensure they don’t lose their critical staff.
Fully 69% of the 100 CIOs responding to a Robert Half Australia study said they would increase their initial salary offer to secure “in-demand IT professionals”, with 53% agreeing that it has become more challenging to find qualified IT employees than it was before the pandemic.
IT security skills were deemed the hardest to find amongst job candidates, with 36% of respondents indicating they had had trouble finding the right people — creating a seller’s market for CISOs. “Wage growth in the tech sector is being driven by a demand-supply imbalance,” said David Jones, senior managing director for Asia-Pacific at Robert Half, in a press release. He said many employers were promoting nonfinancial benefits like work-life balance and career development options to differentiate themselves from purely money-based offers.
Overall demand in the ICT sector grew by 7.3% last quarter, the firm said, compared to 2.2% overall national growth across Australia. “There is increased demand for tech talent as companies expand their IT teams and enhance their digital capabilities because of the pandemic,” Jones said. “But as the tech sector remains buoyant compared to many others, elevated demand for tech skills is coinciding with a tightening supply of skilled talent, which is becoming increasingly insufficient to meet demand.”
CISOs as a risk solution
Surging demand for CISOs is partially explained by the increasingly adversarial cybersecurity climate that has developed over the last year — which has seen Australia, among other things, become the most attacked ransomware target in the Asia-Pacific region.
Yet fighting cybercriminals is only one of the reasons companies are doubling down on their cybersecurity staff, with a recent BDO-AusCERT cybersecurity survey of 500 Australian and New Zealand companies finding that adoption of cybersecurity controls — including the appointment of CISOs — had spiked during the pandemic.
The rate of CISO appointments had increased by 11% over the past year, BDO found, while CISOs were reporting cyber risk to the board in 18% more of the responding organisations than they were a year ago.
Whatever the reason for their appointment, CISOs and other security staff are poised to continue benefitting economically through 2021: Fully 82% of respondents to the Robert Half Australia survey said they were concerned about losing their top talent this year due to the impact of the pandemic, while 70% are planning to increase salaries for existing staff this year.
