New Delhi, Jan. 22 -- India just doesn't have enough skilled engineers to consistently protect vital assets such as power grids, telecom networks, banks and government systems from cyber attackers, whose capabilities have grown more sophisticated with the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Industry stakeholders and analysts that Mint spoke with said that India has about 350,000 professionals working in cybersecurity across various roles. In comparison, the demand across the country is for one million engineers, data sourced from staffing firms Adecco and Quess IT Staffing showed. The gap has remained persistent, as demand for cybersecurity engineers is increasing: as of 2023, India had close to 300,000 engineers working on cyber security. While the pool of such professional has expanded gradually due to abundant opportunities and rising salaries, the pace of growth has not been sufficient to meet the industry demand. "The threat gap is real, and is a key cause of concern for enterprises as cyber attacks are getting more and more sophisticated. At the heart of this concern is that AI is helping attackers automate many cyber threats, and the fact that cyber defence is always reactive in nature," said Aditya Verma, former director of transformation and cybersecurity at Indian Navy, and leader - public sector security for India and south Asia at Cisco, a US technology company that makes networking and cybersecurity equipment. India needs "to treat cybersecurity the way other security wings in the real world (are treated), and have a cyber cadre where state-level training is given at a grassroots-level," Verma said. "Right now, most cybersecurity courses, including many that are backed by the Centre, are short-term certificates, or workshops that last for mere days. In terms of degrees certifying a chief information security officer (Ciso) ready to take charge at an enterprise, the talent still remains few and far between," he added. The need for more engineers has come as generative AI has accelerated the number of cyber attacks in India. Figures sourced from the Data Security Council of India (DSCI)'s 2025 India Cyber Threat Report said that between 2022 and 2024-end, the number of 'behaviour-based cyber threat' detection spiked from 13 million to 54 million-a rise of over four times within just two years. This has left a significant talent gap in cybersecurity, despite competitive salaries. Sanketh Chengappa, director of professional staffing at Adecco Group, said that for the most part, salaries are attractive for cybersecurity professionals. "On an average, an engineer with about five years of work experience earns about Rs.20 lakh per annum. Senior-level cybersecurity engineers, with about a decade's experience, earn up to Rs.60 lakh per annum. The pay is therefore quite fair. The real gap, as far as cybersecurity is concerned, is in the lack of professionals with adequate skills, and the dearth of ample cyber skilling courses and initiatives-in both the public sector and private firms," he said. The crunch is so severe that even organizations offering dedicated cybersecurity and managed services are struggling to hire and retain talent....