Top cybersecurity contractors are charging major corporations more than £10,000 per day to protect them against organisational cybercrime.

According to recruitment agency Manpower, demand for specialist IT contractors has increased four-fold in the wake of several high-profile cyber-attacks on targets including TalkTalk, Sony and JD Wetherspoons.

With the high financial and reputational penalties associated with data breaches, many national and multinational corporations clearly believe that they have no choice but to throw money at the problem to try and get the best experts.

Contractors profit when short-term demand outweighs supply

The good news for contractors is that this increased demand for IT security services comes at a time when cyber skills are in very short supply. This gap between the labour supply and labour demand means that those with the required skills can charge a premium for their services.

According to Manpower, even less experienced information security experts can charge over £3,000 a day and still find work in the current labour market.

The recruitment firm said that the biggest growth will be seen in “cyber security crisis management” as firms are seeking to bolster their in-house security teams by calling on specialist contractors.

Earlier this year, a survey conducted by technology certification body CompTIA found that three-quarters of IT managers reported network and data security skills to be the most crucial when hiring new staff.

E-Skills UK, the IT sector skills council says that the industry needs about 140,000 new entrants each year to meet demand. But last year there were only 16,440 computer science graduates in the UK.

Jon Biddle, Group Chief Operation Officer at Umbrella.co.uk said: “This is clearly welcome news for IT contractors, particularly those with specialist cyber security skills.

“The cyber threat is not going away any time soon, and if large national corporations want to be protected then they have no choice but to pay up.”