New Delhi, Oct. 26 -- Indian organisations are struggling to find cybersecurity professionals with artificial intelligence (AI) expertise, even as security breaches and evolving digital threats increase pressure on security teams. Nearly 94% of organisations surveyed in India reported at least one cybersecurity breach in the past year, while 68% identified a shortage of candidates with specific AI security experience as a recruitment challenge, according to Fortinet's 2026 Global Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report.
An equal proportion of respondents reported difficulty finding candidates with network engineering and security expertise. Among organisations that experienced breaches, 74% reported costs exceeding $1 million, while 82% took at least a month to recover. The India findings are based on a December 2025 survey of 60 IT and cybersecurity decision-makers.
The hiring picture, however, is uneven. Indeed India data shows jobseeker interest in four cybersecurity roles more than doubled over the latest 12-month period. Clicks on postings for security operations centre (SOC) analysts rose 225%, followed by privacy and data protection roles at 189%, security engineers at 176% and cybersecurity analysts at 175%.
Employer demand did not rise at the same pace. Job postings increased by 18% for privacy and data protection roles and 9% for cybersecurity analysts, while postings for security engineers and SOC analysts fell by around 1% and 8%, respectively.
"More people are looking at cybersecurity as a career, but the opportunities aren't growing at the same pace across every specialisation," said Rohan Sylvester, talent strategy advisor at Indeed India. He said jobseekers needed to understand the skills employers were looking for.
Indeed also found that firewall skills appeared in 19.6% of cybersecurity job postings, followed by ISO 27001 at 17.5%, security information and event management (SIEM) at 15.2% and network security at 12%.
AI is adding another layer to cybersecurity skills requirements. In Fortinet's survey, 73% of Indian respondents expected demand for AI oversight and governance roles in cybersecurity teams to rise over the next three years, while 62% anticipated a need to reskill or upskill existing employees.
Barracuda Networks' 2026 Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report similarly found that 81% of Indian respondents reported skills gaps related to AI risks, while 80% cited gaps in addressing advanced identity and phishing threats. Four in five said their security teams were struggling to scale to meet evolving business needs.
"The findings show how the impact of AI is changing the cybersecurity landscape faster than many security teams can build the necessary skills, visibility, and governance," said Siroui Mushegian, senior vice-president and chief information officer at Barracuda.
Mushegian said organisations needed to reshape security teams by combining AI and automation with human expertise, judgement and visibility. She also highlighted the need to develop training pathways and hands-on experience for the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.
The skills shortage has implications for organisational risk. In Fortinet's India survey, 61% of respondents whose organisations experienced breaches cited a lack of cybersecurity skills and trained IT or security staff as a contributing factor. Meanwhile, 78% considered the skills shortage an additional source of cyber risk.
"Cybersecurity is not simply a technical issue but a strategic business risk," said Carl Windsor, chief information security officer at Fortinet. He said greater investment was needed to address emerging AI risks and the continuing cybersecurity skills shortage, both of which are critical to business resilience.
For employers, the challenge is to build capabilities in emerging areas such as AI security without neglecting foundational skills in networks, cloud environments and security operations. Recruitment alone may not bridge the gap: training, reskilling and practical experience will remain important as cybersecurity roles evolve.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from MINT CIO CIRCLE.