Context and why it matters for SMEs in the Baltics and EU
Estonia’s digital economy is advanced and fast-growing, yet the available cybersecurity talent pool remains limited. The country’s globally recognised e-governance success has increased demand for experienced specialists, but a small national workforce and low unemployment make senior security roles difficult to fill. For critical positions such as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), this creates longer recruitment cycles and intense competition for qualified candidates.
Across the EU, demand for ICT specialists has grown by 62 percent over the last decade, outpacing overall employment growth by a wide margin. Security sits at the sharp end of that demand curve. The result is a structural skills gap that raises time-to-hire and wages.
Surveys in 2024 and 2025 paint a consistent picture. Almost half of organisations take more than six months to fill cybersecurity vacancies. Executive searches regularly run three to six months, and European notice periods can extend actual start dates further. For a business facing an audit finding, new customer due diligence or a regulator’s deadline, those months of waiting carry real risk.
The risk is not just time-to-hire. CISO tenure is volatile. Multiple studies place average CISO tenure between 18 and 26 months, with some recent surveys reporting a median of 23 to 35 months depending on sector and jurisdiction. Turnover disrupts programmes and erodes continuity.
What it is and what it is not
A Chief Information Security Officer is the executive who owns cyber risk, sets strategy, and ensures controls, compliance and incident readiness align with business goals. It is not a purely technical operations role, and it is not just a project manager for audits. A modern CISO blends governance, architecture, third-party risk, security awareness and board communication into one accountable portfolio.
Typical weak points or failure modes
- Long lead times to hire a permanent CISO, compounded by EU notice periods and scarce local supply.
- High overall employment costs make full-time hiring a long-term commitment, while limited delivery capacity and skills gaps often stretch board risk tolerance.
- Board risk tolerance vs. delivery capacity. Skills gaps correlate with breaches and loss events.
| Decision factor | Full-time CISO | CISO-as-a-Service |
|---|---|---|
| Time to start | 3 to 6 months typical search | Days to a few weeks |
| Speed to first results | Slow due to hiring and onboarding | Fast, immediate mobilisation |
| Best use case | Ongoing multi-year security programme | Audits, customer assurance, remediation sprints, interim cover |
| Total cost for short projects | High once salary, taxes and benefits are included | Pay per scope |
| Continuity and risk | Tenure changes can disrupt delivery | Capacity can be swapped or scaled without rehiring |
Tooling and process integration
Treat tools as categories, not vendors. For SMEs in Estonia and across the Baltics, the essential categories typically include endpoint protection, identity and access management, email security, vulnerability management, logging and detection, and backup-and-recovery. Integrate these with lightweight processes: risk registers, change control, incident runbooks and vendor tiering. This approach keeps operating expense predictable while avoiding tool sprawl.
Global studies connect skills gaps with breach likelihood and impact. This reinforces the case for bringing in leadership capacity quickly rather than waiting months for perfect hiring conditions.
Measurement and governance
Roles and accountability
- Board and CEO approve risk appetite and budgets, receive a monthly one-page update.
- CISO or CISO-as-a-Service owns cyber risk, strategy and reporting.
- IT operations owns day-to-day control operation under CISO guidance.
- Finance and procurement align spending with risk and manage third-party due diligence.
- HR joins on security awareness and executive onboarding.
Regional and regulatory considerations
Estonia and the wider EU landscape are driven by digitalisation and talent scarcity. Eurostat shows sustained growth in ICT employment, confirming persistent competition for skilled people. For hiring, that translates into fewer candidates per vacancy and longer time-to-fill.
Budgets are tighter in some sectors, and workforce studies report reductions in security headcount and budgets in 2024. This makes elastic capacity models attractive.
How Cybertex Security can help
Cybertex Security delivers CISO-as-a-Service for SMEs and mid-market leaders across the Baltics and the EU. For project-bounded work we provide immediate executive capacity with defined deliverables and a clear exit to permanence if needed.
Typical engagements combine a rapid Security Assessment to establish a baseline, CISO leadership through our CISO-as-a-Service offering.
To discuss the right CISO model for your organisation, contact us
