Specialists hired in war against hackers

PwC is hiring more than 1,000 new tech specialists to address growing cybersecurity concerns among its clients following a number of high profile hacks on UK businesses.
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The auditing and consultancy giant said the new hires will be placed on to its UK Risk Assurance team by 2020 to cover all industry sectors across the country.

New recruits will tackle cybersecurity and privacy threats, as well as data management, business systems and IT risks. More than 600 jobs will be filled by external hires, while over 400 will be transferred from other PwC sites. The firm will also be recruiting at least 200 data and tech graduates.

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“Business models that have served clients well for decades are being disrupted or destroyed due to the speed of digital disruption, the increase of regulatory scrutiny on technology risks, and the escalation of cyber threat, requiring us to respond and build a strong team of specialists,” said Hemione Hudson, PwC’s UK head of assurance.

The move follows a number of high profile hackings on large-scale British companies over the past 12 months.

Thousands of customers’ bank account and contact details were accessed at TalkTalk in October. Banking giant HSBC was later hit by a denial of service attack that temporarily shut down its online banking service back in February. Software accounting firm Sage said earlier this month that the employee details for about 280 companies were accessed by an unauthorised user.

Asam Malik, the director at PwC who heads up cyber practice across the North, told The Yorkshire Post: “Cybersecurity continues to be a major concern for many of our clients across a diverse section of industry therefore it’s imperative that we remain at the cutting edge of the fight against cybercrime. By announcing we intend to recruit a significant number of new tech specialist sends a clear messages to all our clients that we share their concerns and are committed to providing them with the best possible advice.”

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