The many security concerns businesses face have helped elevate the importance of managed security service providers. In a recent CRN story, venture capitalists in the security industry said the role of MSSPs will grow as business customers deal with those concerns, which include having inadequate technical resources on staff, forcing them to turn to MSSPs.

Regardless, security is the top IT spending priority for CIOs in 2017, according to a recent survey by financial services company Piper Jaffray.

Despite the roles in which roles are waiting to be filled, there are a few in which employers have the upper hand in hiring, according to Indeed. Specifically, about twice as many people are interested in chief security information officer (CISO) roles in the U.S. than there are jobs available. Also, anyone who wants to be an ethical hacker has a one-in-three chance of landing a job.

To combat the skills gap in security, Temske says businesses should look toward automation, either on their own or through security service providers, "particularly if the attacks are becoming more automated.""When your attackers are using automation and orchestration against you … you better be using [that] in your defense or it's just a war of attrition. You'll never keep up," he added.

"Even with an unlimited budget," Temske said, "you can't solve that problem.