PwC to hire 1,000 cyber security specialists

Hemione Hudson

PwC said its UK Risk Assurance practice will recruit more than 1,000 technology specialists over the next four years to meet “increasing client demand for digital, regulatory and cyber security services.”

The recruits will work in all industry sectors across the UK helping PwC clients address a broad range of issues, including: cyber security and privacy, data, business systems, technology risk and controls.

The latest recruitment drive follows PwC’s earlier announcement on plans to hire more than 1,000 data scientists for its deals business.

Hemione Hudson, PwC’s UK head of Assurance, said: “Business models that have served clients well for decades are being disrupted or destroyed due to the speed of digital disruption, the increase of regulatory scrutiny on technology risks, and the escalation of cyber threat, requiring us to respond and build a strong team of specialists.

“Our new technology specialists will span from associates to partners and will consist of over 600 external hires, over 400 transfers from around PwC’s international network and over 200 cyber security, data and technology graduate recruits.”

PwC said its UK IT Risk Assurance practice has created a new graduate recruitment programme for technology which will see cyber security, data and technology graduates embark on a three year programme which includes professional qualifications and aims to produce the chief information security officers, chief data officers and chief information officers of the future.

The first intake for the new IT Risk Assurance graduate programme will start in September.

Marc Bena, Risk Assurance partner at PwC, said: “There is a real shortage of technology professionals in the UK. Our vision is to recruit and grow the technology leaders of the future in the same way that we have helped grow generations of finance leaders.

“Our clients and their customers want to know that their technology is innovative and pushing boundaries whilst being safe and delivering what is expected.

“We have a duty to continue to build a team of technology experts able to help our clients do business with confidence.”

Mark Skilton, a professor of practice at Warwick Business School and an expert on cyber security said the area of risk and cyber threats is particularly attractive to consultancies at the moment — with three major trends requiring advisory support.

“Firstly, the rapid increase in cyber-attacks and the need for the board and organisations to invest better in protection and management systems,” said Skilton.

“Secondly there is an increasing demand for innovation and agile solutions from companies seeing new ways to compete in the market.

“Digital disruption is changing customer experience: customers are increasingly 24/7 and always online with mobile devices and mobile apps connected.

“This is changing how and what companies need to have in place to deliver their products and services either directly or indirectly online and off line.

“Companies may not fully understand the changing risks and issues this new technology and the customer behaviour involved in using these tech solutions will have on their business bottom line as well as how the risks and threats change.

“Thirdly, this is driving the rise of what Gartner call ‘bimodal IT’ where there is an increasing use of agile innovative prototyping and flexible customer and operating model solutions, but, at the same time, there remains the existing legacy systems and IT portfolio management that needs to be kept stable and managed.

“This creates a paradox in the need to change the IT while at the same time retaining a sense of control and robust delivery. This is further changing the risk profile of organisations and the need to navigate through enabling both worlds.

“Consultancies have always operated in the risk advisory space, but this is likely to evolve into becoming an integrated offering across all consulting services rather than an add-on called ‘digital trust’ or something the actuaries and so called risk partners offer as a due diligences oversight service.

“The more enlightened consulting offerings will need to work end-to-end and integrate with trust and cyber risk to deliver the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and the Security Information & Event Management (SIEM) services that are truly 21st century and fit for purpose.”