Security professionals say the need for soft skills has increased

According to the results of a new survey, the need for soft skills like communication and critical thinking has increased in the IT security sector.

The study conducted by Dimensional Research for security and compliance specialist Tripwire finds that 72 percent of security professionals say the need for soft skills is now greater.

21 percent believe soft skills are actually more important than technical skills when hiring staff, and 17 percent expect to hire people without security-specific expertise over the next two years.

The most important soft skills cited are analytical thinking (selected by 65 percent), good communication (60 percent) and troubleshooting (59 percent). Tied for fourth place are, 'strong integrity and ethical behavior' and 'ability to work under pressure', both selected by 58 percent of participants.

"The cybersecurity industry should not overlook the soft skills that are needed to build a strong security program," says Tim Erlin, vice president of product management and strategy at Tripwire. "The reality is that today's security pros need to go beyond technical expertise. Security practitioners need to be good communicators who can connect cybersecurity issues to business priorities, rally the rest of the organization to get involved, solve tough problems and handle sensitive issues with integrity."

Among other findings are that nearly all respondents (98 percent) believe non-security functions need to be more involved in cyber security in the future. Of those, 74 percent say IT operations needs to be more involved, 60 percent risk management, 53 percent compliance and 45 percent say legal needs to be brought into the fold. Other mentions include human resources (32 percent) and marketing (11 percent).

You can find out more about the results on the Tripwire site.

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