Moving Forward on Government Cybersecurity Expansion

A few weeks back, I wrote about the plans for our government to expand the cybersecurity task force to counter the increased threats to the infrastructure. As Chloe Albanesius recently reported on PCMag.com, President Obama’s recent State of the Union addressed the topic further.

In his speech, he called for Congress to address the "growing threat from cyber-attacks," and then he signed an executive order that he claims will assist in strengthening the cyber defense. In his address, Obama stated. "We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats. But now, Congress must act as well, by passing legislation to give our government a greater capacity to secure our networks and deter attacks. This is something we should be able to get done on a bi-partisan basis."

One of the issues I mentioned in my previous post was the concern about being able to find the desired amount of qualified personnel for this expansion of the force. This was a concern even back in October when the Department of Homeland Security discussed hiring 600 more cybersecurity experts. One of the issues is not knowing exactly what kind of skills are needed in order for them to hire the proper people for the task. Or, as Taylor Armerding at CSO stated it, “There are several reasons for the difficulty, experts say, but none of them have to do with a lack of supply. They say there are talented candidates out there, but DHS has not learned how to attract them. One problem is that DHS still hasn't been able to define the skills needed and job descriptions clearly.”

Bill Pennington, chief strategy officer at WhiteHat Security has said that the standard education requirements are probably part of the issue too, and goes on to say, "What they are teaching at some universities is at least two to three years behind the curve. Why would I go to college and spend $100,000 to $200,000 to learn three-year-old technology?" This is why it is important to keep on top of the cutting-edge technologies in the field.

So, while there are still issues surrounding how to expand and fill the President’s desired increase in the workforce, it is good to know, for those in the technology career field, that this expansion is on the horizon and is a priority goal for the government. Obama’s priority is to bring new jobs to the country, and stated, "Now is not the time to gut… job-creating investments in science and innovation. Now is the time to reach a level of research and development not seen since the start of the space race. We need to make those investments."

So, for those currently in or looking to get into a technology field that is aligned with the cybersecurity side of things, this is good news. For those with a desire for this area of work, and the know-how, now may be a good time to consider gaining the extra experience needed to prep yourself for a transition into this ever-growing area of work.

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