Two significant issues loom throughout the cybersecurity domain. The first is the shortage of cybersecurity professionals and the second quandary is the lack of minimum entry standards in cybersecurity. Some organizations' cybersecurity operations are suffering due to the cybersecurity talent gap accompanied by the increasing sophistication and number of cyber-attack attempts. The shortage of cyber talent is rampant in private entities as in public agencies, which highlights the resolve for entry standards into cybersecurity to enhance the professionalization. Researchers and practitioners provide countless recommendations for ameliorating the cybersecurity workforce by addressing the professionalization issue. Professional associations are the nexus of cybersecurity and possess the expertise, leadership, and sustenance to spearhead efforts to develop national-level strategies to resolve the talent gap and establish professionalization standards.
TopComplex Adaptive Systems
The cybersecurity domain consists of sociotechnical systems, known as a system of systems; the systems include technology, processes and procedures, people, organizations, compliance, operations, and the threat environment (Eldardiry & Cladwell, 2015; Keely, 2017; Nobles, 2016). Organizations within the system of systems are institutions of higher learning, certifying organizations, professional associations, governments, industry, and non-profit entities (Knapp, Maurer, & Plachkinova, 2017). In question is the educational and academic component that requires transformation to increase the number of cybersecurity personnel. Researchers and practitioners identified the following areas that influence certifying examinations: technology changes, threat landscape, industry standards, workforce requirements, and government and regulations (Knapp, Maurer, & Plachkinova, 2017). The systems are interdependent of other components; therefore, modifying one component could impact other systems. Eldardiry and Cladwell (2015) postulate that any system or the linkages between components are susceptible to vulnerabilities or weaknesses based on changes such as the threat environment is dynamic and capricious (Keely, 2017), resulting in changes to system calculus. From a macro perspective, as organizations adapt to the threat environment, it increases the demand for cybersecurity professionals in which there is a recognizable scarcity of cyber personnel (Cobb, 2016). The paucity of cybersecurity professionals impacts the system and induces complexity. A common practice is for organizations to leverage new technology; however, information technology professionals struggle to maintain pace with the technological changes (Eldardiry & Cladwell, 2015). By using the complexity theory perspective, according to Scioli (2017), one can comprehend the behavior of complex systems and associated components.