CISO can be a costly hire if you are lucky enough to find a professional amid the global cybersecurity skills shortage crisis.

Cynomi, a virtual CISO (chief information security officer) platform, received $3.5 million funding from Flint Capital, SeedIL, Lytical Ventures, and a group of business angels, and two grants totaling $500K from the United Kingdom’s innovation agency.

Cynomi, which focuses on small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), aims to replace human CISO as companies struggle to find and hire talent due to global cybersecurity skills shortages.

According to the 2021 (ISC)2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, the world lacks approximately 2.7 million cybersecurity professionals. Even when companies manage to find highly qualified workers, it’s tough to lure them in.

“A CISO role is rare within sub-enterprise settings primarily due to high costs. In spite of this, even those companies that recognize the importance of this role and can afford to hire a cybersecurity specialist will have difficulty recruiting one due to the scarcity of qualified personnel,” Cynomi’s Co-Founder David Primor told CyberNews.

According to him, with over 40% of the world’s companies having 500 or fewer employees, the middle market is a prime target for hackers.

Primor reckons that small and mid-market companies are substantially less equipped to deal with the ever-growing threat landscape. They lack budget and staff, therefore, are more prone to the ‘devastating impacts of possible attacks.’


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