How Upskilling and Training Providers Can Help Close the Cybersecurity Skills Gap

The cybersecurity skills gap is one of the most pressing challenges facing security teams as we head into 2023. With a study revealing a shortage of 3.4 million cybersecurity workers, more and more organizations are turning to cybersecurity training and upskilling to strengthen their security posture.

The move highlights valuable investor interest in online cybersecurity upskilling and talent assessment providers like Hack the Box, which announced today that it has raised $55 million as part of a Series B funding round led by Carlyle. I am raising it.

Online cybersecurity training provides organizations with junior employees with intermediate to advanced skills, so they don’t have to compete with experienced professionals who are in high demand among other organizations.

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Hack the Box’s platform provides educational content and over 450 virtual hacking labs to 1.7 million users in 1,400 organizations worldwide to educate themselves on offensive security and penetration testing can be used for

Upskilling from the skill gap

This announcement comes at a time when more and more organizations are recognizing the value of building security talent internally, rather than hiring from the outside. In fact, 62% of organizations reported that training improved their organization’s cybersecurity effectiveness, reducing breach attempts and overall security incidents.

When it comes to security training formats, guidance on offensive security, ethical hacking, and penetration testing proactively identifies and mitigates vulnerabilities before attackers have an opportunity to exploit them. It is particularly valuable because it provides practitioners with the expertise they need to

Haris Pylarinos, Founder and CEO of Hack the Box, said:

“This means hiring a team of ethical hackers to first find vulnerabilities in your organization and defend against cybercriminals. That’s why ethical hacking is so important to close the skills gap and end cybercriminal activity.”

Pilarinos also says ethical hacking provides organizations with access to an untapped pool of highly skilled cyber talent that can help bridge skills gaps and protect an increasingly complex environment. increase.

Competitors in cybersecurity training

One of Hack the Box’s main competitors in the market is Immersive Labs, which raised $66 million in funding in October 2022 to provide security teams with a platform to continuously test and measure cyber resilience. provides defensive and offensive skill-building training content and executive-tailored exercises. , cybersecurity, and risk and compliance teams.

Another major competitor is Offensive Security, which offers a range of online resources including courses on penetration testing, cloud security, security operations, exploit development, and software security. Offensive Security also offers penetration testing services to help companies test their operational resilience.

But according to Pylarinos, the main difference between Hack the Box and these competitors is its focus on giving users hands-on exercises to deal with real-world hacking problems.

“Rather than memorizing handbooks or blindly following instructions, perseverance and thinking outside the box are the core hacking skills that make a true expert. It builds a hacker mindset that helps you get the muscle memory you need when confronted,” Pylarinos said.