Closing the Cybersecurity Talent Gap: LinkedIn Learning Launches Cybersecurity Training Labs Powered by Hack The Box

The cybersecurity landscape is rapidly evolving. As artificial intelligence transforms both defense and attack strategies, organizations face a new reality: the demand for cybersecurity talent is outpacing supply at an unprecedented rate. According to LinkedIn data, companies hiring for cybersecurity skills are up 75% year-over-year, and job postings have surged 31%. Yet, the number of professionals adding cybersecurity to their profiles has grown only 4%. Translation: more jobs, fewer skilled people — the cybersecurity talent gap is widening.

This gap isn’t just a statistic. It’s a call to action for business leaders, IT professionals, and anyone looking to future-proof their career. The rise of AI means defenders must master new tools for threat detection, automation, and behavioral analysis, while attackers leverage AI for more sophisticated phishing, deepfakes, and scalable social engineering. The stakes have never been higher.

Introducing LinkedIn Learning Cybersecurity Training Labs powered by Hack The Box

Today’s world of cybersecurity requires preparing learners for real-world threats in safe learning environments. That’s why we are partnering with Hack The Box, the global leader in AI-powered cybersecurity readiness and upskilling software solutions, to launch Cybersecurity Training Labs. These labs place learners in simulated attack environments, providing practical, scenario-based skill development that goes far beyond theory. Learners don’t just read about cyber defense. They perform it, with interactive exercises and real-time feedback. Each course culminates in a summative, interactive exam where learners must demonstrate their skills in realistic scenarios. Paired with over 700 courses aligned to the NICE skills framework, learners can build and validate cybersecurity skills with confidence on LinkedIn Learning.

Hack The Box: Setting the Standard for Cyber Mastery

Hack The Box is recognized as a Forrester Wave Technology leader and has trained over 4.5 million cybersecurity analysts, delivering more than 19 million hours of training for red, blue, and purple teams. Their methodology is grounded in realism and gamification, offering threat-informed labs that simulate real-life attacks and update content within days of emerging threats.

Hands-on Labs Prepare Learners for Real Cyber Threats

Our new Cybersecurity Training Labs are designed for the most common and fastest-growing role in cybersecurity: the cybersecurity analyst. Whether you’re just starting out or advancing your expertise, these 11 modules cover the full spectrum of skills needed in today’s threat landscape. Each module features real-world hands-on labs and interactive exams, ensuring learners build practical, job-ready skills.

The 11 Cybersecurity Analyst Modules

1. Network Enumeration with Nmap
Learn to identify live systems, scan ports, and enumerate services using Nmap, which is essential for both attackers and defenders. Skill: Network scanning and enumeration.

2. Footprinting
Master enumeration principles to footprint and extract intelligence from common enterprise services like SMB, NFS, DNS, SMTP, IMAP/POP3, SNMP, MySQL/MSSQL, IPMI, FTP, and remote management protocols for Windows and Linux.

Skills: Infrastructure enumeration and foot printing, service-specific protocol enumeration, and analysis and actionable reporting.  

3. Information Gathering – Web Edition
Develop web reconnaissance skills, including WHOIS lookups, DNS analysis, subdomain discovery, and web fingerprinting. Skill: Web application reconnaissance.

4. Introduction to Network Traffic Analysis
Capture and analyze network traffic using tcpdump and Wireshark to detect anomalies and security issues. Skill: Network traffic analysis and packet inspection.

5. Intermediate Network Traffic Analysis
Detect and analyze advanced network attacks, including ARP spoofing, rogue access points, and application layer threats. Skill: Intrusion detection and advanced traffic analysis.

6. Vulnerability Assessment
Use Nessus and OpenVAS to scan for vulnerabilities, interpret results, and generate assessment reports. Skill: Vulnerability scanning and reporting.

7. Incident Handling Process
Follow the NIST incident handling lifecycle to identify, contain, eradicate, and recover from security incidents. Skill: Incident handling and lifecycle management.

8. Windows Event Logs and Finding Evil
Analyze Windows Event Logs and Sysmon data to detect suspicious activities like DLL hijacking and credential dumping. Skill: Endpoint analysis and intrusion detection.

9. Security Monitoring and SIEM Fundamentals
Understand SOC operations, SIEM systems, and build KQL queries for security monitoring using the Elastic Stack. Skill: Security monitoring and SIEM use case development.

10. Introduction to Threat Hunting and Hunting with Elastic
Learn threat hunting fundamentals, CTI basics, and conduct practical hunts using the Elastic Stack and real-world logs. Skill: Threat hunting and cyber threat intelligence. 

11. Understanding Log Sources and Investigating with Splunk
Investigate security incidents in Splunk, create detection searches, and analyze attacker behaviors using SPL. Skill: SIEM investigation and analytics-driven detection.

Ready to Upskill?

Explore the labs, build your skills, and join the next generation of cyber defenders.

Methodology 

Insights by Nishtha Batra

Cybersecurity demand refers to the number of companies and paid job postings seeking talent with the Cybersecurity skill across 13 markets — Australia, India, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, and the United States.

Member supply represents the number of professionals who explicitly added the Cybersecurity skill to their LinkedIn profiles. Growth in both supply and demand is measured by comparing the current one-year period (Oct 2024 - Sept 2025) with the previous year (Oct 2023 to Sept 2024).

Job data is sourced from LinkedIn job postings, while member skill data comes from LinkedIn member profile updates. Job postings missing company identifiers are excluded.