Understanding Cybersecurity Education Gaps in Europe

Abstract

Demand for cybersecurity professionals from industry and institutions is high, driven by an increasing digitization of society and the growing range of potential targets for cyber attacks. However, despite this pressing need a significant shortfall in the number of cybersecurity experts remains and a discrepancy has emerged between the skills introduced through education and those required in professional settings. In this article, a political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental (PESTLE) analysis was utilized to explore the factors impacting cybersecurity education in Europe. The PESTLE analysis enabled the categorization of factors affecting cybersecurty education and skills and allowed for cybersecurity professionals to assess the relevance of the factors at a national-level and European-level. Utilizing the concept of modularity from social network analysis, the interconnectivity of factors was also considered. Finally, a European-level stakeholder survey was conducted to verify the findings. As a result of the above process, a lack of societal awareness of cybersecurity was identified as a major challenge to education, along with a lack of EU-level certification. It should be noted that significant differences between factors perceived as impacting cybersecurity education were found between countries suggesting a need for local solutions to the problem.