MI5 chief Jonathan Evans says the intelligence agency is working against"astonishing"levels of cyber-attacks on UK industry.
In his first public speech in two years at London's Mansion House,Evans warned that internet"vulnerabilities"were being exploited on an industrial scale by organised cyber criminals as well as states carrying out cyber espionage,the BBC reports.Evans claimed that a British company lost£800m in revenue as a result of such an attack.
IT employment is set to grow at twice the UK average between now and 2020,according to the Technology Insights 2012report from sector skills council e-Skills uk.
A record 129,000 new recruits a year will be needed to fill the IT and telecoms jobs available in the UK.This includes newly created jobs and staff needed to replace those leaving the sector.The highest levels of employment growth are in areas such as software professionals,ICT managers,and IT strategy and planning professionals.
Speaking about the research,Karen Price,CEO of e-Skills uk,said:"Technology Insights 2012 shows how important IT and telecoms are to the competitiveness and economic growth of the UK.
"With IT employment set to grow at such a pace,it is vital we continue to invest in the skills of those working in technology and create routes for young people to enter exciting and challenging careers in the industry."
The number of advertised vacancies is also recovering,according to e-Skills uk.Advertised vacancies were at 82,000 per quarter in 2009.However this increased to more than 116,000 per quarter in 2011.
The most advertised roles are in development,design and support.The most technical skilled roles advertised require SQL,C,C#,.NET and Java.
Earlier this year IT recruiter Greythorn published a report suggesting that learning more than one programming language can boost your salary by between£3,000 and£10,000 per annum.
Recruitment group Hays Information Technology echoed this in April by saying candidates with knowledge of Java,.NET and C++,as well as IT skills specific to individual industries,are particularly hard to come by.
