Insights from the CompTIA State of Cybersecurity 2025 Report
Tech Updates
December 9, 2024
With 2025 looming large, the time has come to solidify your cybersecurity strategy using Enterprise Architecture Practices, ensuring you’re well-positioned to tackle cyber threats and maintain a competitive advantage.
In this first installment of our three-part series, we dive into the insights of the CompTIA State of Cybersecurity 2025 Report, shedding light on key themes, the current cybersecurity landscape, and future trends. For a comprehensive understanding, be sure to consult the entire CompTIA report.¹
The Evolving Cybersecurity Landscape
This has been a transformative decade for technology, with rapid advancements and widespread adoption. The global pandemic advanced the technology landscape, while also creating new vulnerabilities to manage. However, as we move into 2025, the cybersecurity landscape faces new challenges and opportunities.
Key Trends from the 2025 Report:
It is crucial to be aware of the trends shaping the cybersecurity realm. The CompTIA State of Cybersecurity 2025 Report sheds light on key insights that are driving industry discussions and strategies – from technological integration to market realities, and the shift towards proactive cybersecurity measures.
1. Technological Integration and Vulnerabilities: The integration of advanced technologies like generative AI has brought both innovation and complexity. The July 2024 CrowdStrike incident underscored the fragility of highly integrated tech stacks and the ongoing need for human oversight.
2. Market Realities and Digital Transformation: Despite the initial surge in tech investments, market realities such as rising interest rates and the complexities of digital transformation have slowed tech hiring.
3. Proactive Cybersecurity: The report emphasizes a shift from reactive to proactive cybersecurity measures. It is no longer limited to defending against threats, but also about ensuring data privacy, regulatory compliance, and operational reliability.
Key Statistics
Statistics signal a thriving industry with escalating demand for skilled professionals and innovative solutions. Organizations and individuals alike should leverage these trends to stay ahead in the dynamic cybersecurity landscape.
1. Cybersecurity Market Growth: Global revenue for cybersecurity products grew by 15.6% between 2022 and 2023, with expectations of continued double-digit growth reaching $200 billion by 2028.
2. Job Market Demand: Between May 2023 and April 2024, nearly 470,000 U.S.-based job openings required cybersecurity skills. This demand spans various roles, reflecting the broad need for cybersecurity talent.
3. Dedicated Cybersecurity Positions: For dedicated cybersecurity roles, CompTIA’s State of the Tech Workforce 2024 reports that U.S. cybersecurity employment is projected to grow 267% above the national growth rate.
The Disconnect in Perceived Results
Despite significant investments, there remains a disconnect between planned cybersecurity investments and perceived outcomes. Only 25% of individuals surveyed feel that the overall direction of cybersecurity is improving dramatically, and just 22% are completely satisfied with their organization’s cybersecurity efforts.
While there is substantially more sentiment around slight improvements or mostly satisfactory results, the critical nature of cybersecurity would imply a desire to be at the highest end of the scale, suggesting that something is missing in the approach organizations are taking, or in the expectations around what ideal cybersecurity could look like.
A Changed Landscape Deserves a Refreshed Mindset and Strategy
The report further delves into the issues driving cybersecurity concerns, highlighting the challenges companies face in addressing weak points in their adoption strategies. These issues are summarized below, followed by a list of drivers for cybersecurity that require organization-wide engagement and discussion about technology and the processes needed to ensure asset safeguarding. Today’s cybersecurity issues require businesses to have ongoing discussions beyond the cybersecurity technology stack to include the processes that ensure protection of assets and organizational structure.
1. Complexity of Technology Stacks: As organizations integrate more advanced technologies, the complexity of managing these systems increases, leading to potential vulnerabilities.
2. Regulatory Compliance: Keeping up with evolving regulations is a constant challenge, requiring organizations to stay vigilant and adaptable.
3. Human Factor: Despite technological advancements, human oversight remains crucial in managing and mitigating cybersecurity risks.
Cyber-Drivers Shaping the Industry
1. Emergence of generative AI
2. Growing variety and scale of cyber-attacks
3. Increasing reliance on data and privacy concerns
4. Rising threat of nation-state attacks
5. Need for diverse skills and constant upskilling
Enterprise Architecture Model for Decision-Making
The dilemmas of a strategic technology mindset and a robust cybersecurity approach are interconnected. Cybersecurity efforts cannot be limited to changes in technology operations but must influence the decision process more heavily than in the past. Cross-functional engagement and buy-in, supported by continuous communication, are imperative to meeting organizational cybersecurity goals and strategies.
As organizations solve both sides of the equation, the four layers of the Enterprise Architecture Model can provide a structure for making decisions. Cross-functional buy-in and continuous discussion will keep cybersecurity strategies aligned with broader organizational goals. Beginning with a comprehensive business perspective and drilling down through applications, data, and technology will help set priorities and identify tradeoffs as companies move toward effective cybersecurity.
Layers of the Model:
Business Perspective: Aligning security with business objectives and risk appetite.
Applications Layer: Addressing application security and user access.
Data Layer: Ensuring data privacy, protection, and regulatory compliance.
Technology Layer: Building resilient technology stacks and deploying the latest security tools.
Key Take Aways
The Market Shift: In mid-2024, the irresistible force met the immovable object of market realities. Tech hiring slowed as companies grappled with rising interest rates and digital transformation complexities. The CrowdStrike incident in July highlighted the fragile nature of highly integrated technology stacks and the need for human intervention when technology fails.
Looking Ahead: The slowdown is expected to be temporary. The larger question is what lessons businesses will learn from the current conditions. Early signs of digital fatigue and frustration indicate that organizations have not fully embraced a strategic mindset and culture around technology.
Next Up
Stay tuned for Part II, where we will dive into cybersecurity imperatives across the Enterprise Architecture Model, including Business Architecture and aligning budget and actions with priorities; Application Architecture and defining workflows that ensure secure operations; Data Architecture and driving AI and analysis with secure data; and Technology Architecture to provide a tactical foundation for cyber success in 2025.
About SureShield and CompTIA
A proud CompTIA partner, SureShield’s technology provides crucial support for the CompTIA Trustmark program, which aims to strengthen cybersecurity maturity and culture within the global Managed Service Provider (MSP) community.
SureShield’s SecurityShield and ComplyShield platforms provide AI-driven security and compliance technology and support features. ComplyShield delivers continuous management and automation by mapping to industry-accepted best practices and regulatory frameworks, including CIS, ISO/27001, NIST SP 800-171, HIPAA, CMMC, SOC2, FedRamp, and others.
The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is the world’s leading information technology (IT) certification and training body. CompTIA is a mission-driven organization committed to unlocking the potential of every student, career changer, or professional seeking to begin or advance in a technology career. The CompTIA Trustmark is a process and certification that provides MSPs with the evidence they need to prove their cyber prowess.
¹CompTIA State of Cybersecurity 2025 Report