Experience Over Education

About half the companies represented in the Intel survey prefer a bachelor's degree in a relevant technical subject as the minimum credential to work in a security role. But respondents ranked hands-on experience and professional certifications as better ways to skill up on cybersecurity.

Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of respondents – 68 percent – said hacking competitions such as "capture the flag" exercises can help develop critical cybersecurity skills.

"Cybersecurity demands curiosity, self-education, [and] knowledge of a broad scope of topics," the Kaspersky report said, "and every single one of them can get you a decent salary in any other IT field."