JAKARTA (THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Gamers make the best candidates for cyber security jobs, a new report by California-based security software company McAfee has suggested.
According to its survey involving 300 senior security managers and 650 security professionals at major corporations, at least 92 per cent of respondents say that gamers have the necessary skills for cyber security jobs, such as endurance and perseverance, the urge to look at things at a new angle, different perspectives and logic and problem solving skills.
As reported by VentureBeat, the survey also noted that 78 per cent of respondents believe the current generation - which consists of a large population of gamers who began playing video games at a young age - is best suited to handle cyber security roles.
Cyber security jobs are currently very important amid a significant growth in cybercrimes in an era in which almost everyone has a computer and is connected to a network. According to the EU, the volume and cost of cybercrimes are increasing significantly.
The aforementioned survey found that 46 per cent of the respondents believe that cybercrimes will be almost impossible to keep up with in about 12 months. Statistics indicate that security teams needs to increase their staff by about 24 per cent to keep up with cyber-criminals and identify potential cyberthreats that could harm the public. However, it is not easy to find people to hire-at least 84 per cent of those surveyed believes it is difficult to attract talented people with the necessary skills.
McAfee chief information security officer Grant Bourzikas said in a statement that human and machines should work together to achieve better results, with the automated programs dealing with small and basic problems, allowing the humans to deal with complex problems.
Another solution to improve cyber security is gamification, the application of game-playing elements to non-game activities. Proponents of the theory argue it could help with teamwork to increase efficiency and increase awareness over security breaches.
