Why Cybersecurity is the Growth Industry That Simply Can’t Slow Down

Cybersecurity has been around for decades now, and yet the market only continues to grow. In fact, unlike other growth industries in the tech space where the market will tend to bubble sharply before settling into a steady incline, the demand for cybersecurity increased at a rapid pace while supply has struggled to meet it.

The reasons for cybersecurity’s growth rate are not entirely intuitive either. To understand them, we’ll have to dig into why the industry is so important, the perception many people and companies have of it, and the practical realities behind business in the digital age.

The Importance of Cybersecurity

It’s not hard to see why cybersecurity is important. From customer data to banking information, security breaches can be expensive for big companies and life-threatening for small ones.

Now, when we think of cybersecurity, there’s always a tendency to think in terms of ‘90s action movies full of rapid typing, green text, and stylish sunglasses. Of course, we all know that this is a fanciful depiction, and reality is a lot more down to earth.

In practice, most cybersecurity comes down to solving one of two problems. You have to design a system that’s organised to prevent the wrong type of people having access to your data and you have to ensure that the right kind of people don’t accidentally leave the door open without realising.

In other words, because your cybersecurity is so dependent on your non-technical users, it has to be designed in a way that won’t allow them to make mistakes. For example, this is why many log in systems will force you to use a strong password. Any designer knows that if you give people an easier option, they will take it (even if they know they shouldn’t).

The problem this creates is that a system designed around the user experience necessarily has to scale with the complexity of that user experience. The more features your internal systems have to make life easier for your non-technical employees, the more doorways there are to potentially leave open.

This is all a major simplification but the bottom line is that as we come to expect more of our technology, our security needs to become more advanced to match. 

Twenty years ago, the idea of an entirely paper-free office sounded like a pipe dream to most companies. In 2025, cloud storage is the norm and if your employees can’t access their documents from any device with an internet connection, then your company is at a disadvantage to your faster, more tech-savvy rivals.

Why The Industry Keeps Growing

Cybersecurity growth is, in many respects, driven by the arms race between companies to have the best, most up-to-date, and most functional systems. At the same time a second arms race is taking place between security experts and the scammers looking for ways in.

In many regards, the scammers are at a disadvantage. Most scammers are small operations and have only a limited technical skillset. On their own, an individual scammer can rarely pose much threat to a company with even a half-way robust security system in place.

The problem is that the internet and mass communication have opened the door to an army of opportunists.

The bigger your company, the more doors there are into your system, each of which needs a secure lock. With the scale comes attention, meaning that every door in your system is going to have someone checking the locks to see if they can get through. They don’t need to be an expert lock pick; they just need to be in the right place, at the right time.

All of this means that once companies reach a certain scale, they need to have their own team of digital security guards. They not only need to build a secure system but then need experts who can consistently maintain and expand it as the needs of the company grow.

A Highly Skilled Job

It’s also worth noting that cybersecurity’s extreme growth rate isn’t just about the consistent and expanding demand. As with any technical discipline, there’s also a problem with supply.

Cybersecurity experts aren’t just people with broad technical knowledge. An expert needs to be up-to-date with the latest technology, experienced enough to recognise how these attacks work in practice and not just in principle, and level-headed enough to keep their cool while dealing with a very stressful situation.

It takes a very specific set of skills and a certain type of mindset to excel in this field which is why those that do are worth a lot of money to major tech companies.

When all’s said and done, cybersecurity’s industry growth is a fact of the modern age that’s unlikely to change any time soon. There are many places where companies can cut corners – a practice which is only becoming more common with the prevalence of AI – but strong, solid cybersecurity will never be one of them. The risks of not investing simply outweigh the money a company might save.