Business

How Do Data Breaches Impact Hiring?

It turns out that companies are more reactive than proactive

Published: Oct. 27th, 2020
Last updated: Aug. 5th, 2026

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Data is one of the most valuable resources today. The companies that own and store the world's largest and most valuable data wield enormous influence. Yet despite their power, these companies are increasingly vulnerable to data breaches, a costly and reputationally damaging affair.

IT security professionals are the primary defense against a data breach, yet they often get hired following a breach rather than before.

By looking at 48 of the largest data breaches of the last 10 years, we see the hiring trends for IT security before and after a breach:

IT Security Hires Before/After Data Breach
Figure 1. IT Security Hires Before/After Data Breach Source: Revelio Labs, October 2020

Below, Revelio Labs ranks companies based on those that have hired the most IT security professional before a breach compared to afterward.

Preparedness / Reactiveness
Figure 2. Preparedness / Reactiveness Source: Revelio Labs, October 2020

Takeaways:

  • When it comes to data breaches, companies are often “too little too late” in their workforce planning process, generally hiring after a breach has occurred, not before.
  • Even more surprising, our HR database shows there’s a general decrease of IT security positions right before a breach, showing a lack of concern for security.
  • Expanding IT security teams generally takes 2 to 3 quarters, since these roles are in particularly high demand.

If you have any ideas of other workforce planning process metrics to track or would like to hear more about Revelio Labs' HR database, please feel free to reach out.

Free to reproduce with attribution and a link to reveliolabs.com.

Cite this article

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Revelio Labs, "How Do Data Breaches Impact Hiring?" October 27, 2020.
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Revelio Labs, "<a href="https://www.reveliolabs.com/news/business/how-do-data-breaches-impact-hiring">How Do Data Breaches Impact Hiring?</a>" October 27, 2020.
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Zweig, B. (2020, October 27). How Do Data Breaches Impact Hiring? Revelio Labs.

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