The rapid shift to remote work in 2020 has led to a shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals in the UAE.
But lucrative opportunities await those willing to take on larger roles, a new salary guide shows.
"The speed of digital transformation in the past 12 months is much more than the whole previous five years, and it's still accelerating," Tarek Kuzbari, regional director for Boston-based security company Cybereason, told The National.
This digital boom has opened opportunities for criminals to continue using age-old tactics, such as ransomware, malware and email fraud, Mr Kuzbari said.
This has led to a run on demand for cybersecurity architects, managers and engineers to battle these threats.
People are hiring for this because they realise the threats are multiplying. The gamekeeper is trying to keep the poacher out
These roles can fetch monthly salaries of between Dh40,000 and Dh65,000 a month in the UAE, depending on the company, according to the Michael Page 2021 salary guide.
There is a shortage of locally based talent across the most in-demand skill sets, the recruitment company said.
It also recommended that employers focus on developing and training internal talent, and aim to be more flexible on sector and seller expertise when hiring for external locally based talent.
Some recruiters were concerned rising demand was inflating salaries and blurring job descriptions to attract people to open roles.
"There are lots of overpaid cybersecurity professionals who are not qualified for their job titles," said Iain Sachs, a recruiter for defence and technology companies in the UAE.
Mr Sachs likened it to the dot-com boom and bust of the late 1990s to early 2000s, "when salaries were going through the roof".
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The National's UAE salary guide 2021
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Part of this, he said, was that universities were not graduating students who were ready to be hired.
There was little way to prepare for the scope and scale of this level of threat online.
"Cyber security is a booming area already and people are hiring for this because they realise the threats are multiplying," Mr Sachs said.
"It's a gamekeeper and poacher dynamic. The gamekeeper is trying to keep the poacher out.
"Right now, we are going through a radical change of going fully digital. That comes with a whole new pile of threats.
"There are fewer qualified candidates for open jobs so people are landing in jobs they aren’t ready for."
He likened the cybersecurity jobs rush to the demand for digital marketing managers a decade ago.
People were being extremely well paid for that position "but now the universe has caught up, the market is flooded and the pay scales are course-correcting and dropping fast", he said.
Mr Sachs predicted this would happen to some parts of the cybersecurity sector.
There are already signs of a maturing market. Late last year, the UAE assembled a council on cyber security.
The council is developing laws to prosecute all types of cyber crimes, securing existing and emerging technology and establishing a robust National Cyber Incident Response Plan.
For those looking to break into technology security, engineers who specialise in safely moving data to cloud storage are among the most in demand, Michael Page said.
Many of the best candidates in this area are being lured to the big multinational tech retailers or a handful of the largest corporations because of the size and scope of the programmes those businesses are undertaking, leaving smaller or less specialised companies with fewer options to choose from.
Technology transformation experts, or those who can implement systems to help reduce operating costs and improve efficiency, are also in demand.
So are security consultants who bring with them experience in more mature markets, as a result of international security sellers entering the Middle East, Michael Page said.
"If anyone can afford to go through what will be a challenging period of lack of talent, it’s [the UAE]," Mr Sachs said.
"It’s an attractive place to come to work. If you’re facing a dark winter in Finland or Russia, it’ll always be attractive."
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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