Groups Unveil Cyber Talent Search
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, SANS Institute, the Defense Department, universities and private sector partners launched a series of competitions Monday intended to encourage young people to enter cybersecurity-related careers. The goal of the U.S. Cyber Challenge is to find 10,000 scholars to become "cyber security practitioners, researchers, and warriors," CSIS said. The effort was unveiled at a Capitol Hill briefing where National Security Agency Information Assurance Director Richard Schaeffer stressed the importance of recruiting new high-tech talent.
"The pipeline is reasonably robust but it needs to be more robust," he said. "We're talking about tens of thousands of technical professionals." Schaeffer said he wants outreach to occur as early as middle school. "I still want young folks to say I want to be a policeman [or] fireman... but I'd love to hear them saying I want to be a computer scientist... and know what it means," he said. Last week, a report by the Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton cited a troubling shortage of skilled cyber professionals and a lack of leadership, planning and coordination within the federal workforce. "This is clearly a place where public-private partnership is essential," he said.
The three cyber challenge components are a "Cyber Patriot" defense competition from the Air Force Association; a DOD competition focusing on cyber investigation and forensics; and a SANS Institute challenge testing mastery of vulnerabilities. Click here (PDF) for the U.S. Cyber Challenge flyer and here to read more about the initiative.
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