SHENZHEN is one of the five cities in China with the greatest demand for cybersecurity talents, according to recruitment platform zhaopin.com and Internet company Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd., the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported yesterday.

Cybersecurity talents are also most sought-after in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou. Overall demand for such talents in the five cities accounts for 60.7 percent of the total demand in China.

According to Zhaopin.com, in the first half of 2018, the average monthly salary expected by cybersecurity jobseekers was around 8,588 yuan (US$1,259), an increase of 1,054 yuan compared with 2017.

The average monthly salary of cybersecurity-related jobs offered by governmental institutions and enterprises was around 12,389 yuan, an increase of 2,998 yuan compared with 2017.

Employers in the financial sector provide the highest salaries for cybersecurity talents, offering an average of 15,054 yuan per month, followed by the Internet industry with an average of 14,849 yuan and the service industry with an average of 14,733 yuan.

Internet-related security and maintenance personnel with practical skills, as well as high-level cybersecurity experts, will become the most sought-after in the cybersecurity job market in the next three to five years, according to an analyst with zhaopin.com.

The report said demand for cybersecurity talents is biggest in the IT industry, accounting for 45.9 percent of the total. The Internet industry and the telecom industry accounted for 13.7 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively. (Zhang Yu)