The U.S. Department of Defense reportedly plans to boost its cyber-security agency to nearly 5,000, but knowledgeable security professionals remain scarce.
The U.S. military reportedly plans to boost its cyber operations force fivefold to nearly 5,000 individuals. However, the government will have to contend with a very competitive market for knowledgeable security professionals.
Pentagon officials confirmed the expansion of forces for the U.S. Cyber Command over the weekend, according to separate reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Cyber Command is tasked with protecting critical national networks, defending the U.S. military from cyber-attacks and launching its own offensive operations through cyberspace.
Currently, however, there is a shortage of security professionals with the necessary experience to fill the slots, according to Alan Paller, research director for the SANS Institute. Instead, the Pentagon will have to rely on a new model for intensively training the right kind of person, he said.
"Right now, there aren't any people in the pipeline to fill those slots," Paller said. "There is no supply of them. If you hire someone, you are going to take them away from another company."
As part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Task Force on CyberSkills, Paller and other experts estimated that it would take 2,000 hours of on-the-job training to bring a college graduate to the level necessary to defend a network from attack.
The skills that the government and private industry are seeking include working knowledge of network administration and operating systems as well as system administration and application development.
To gain these skills, the task force recommends that the department organize cyber-security challenges and contests to select candidates who have a high probability of succeeding. Those who pass a gauntlet of tests will then be admitted to intensive cyber-security studies offered as pilot programs at 10 community colleges. Finally, graduates of the programs will automatically receive a residency in the government or a private-industry partner.
Brookdale Community College in New Jersey has already started a competition, the CyberChallenge, with the help of the SANS Institute. The school expected more than 250 to sign up to compete. Instead, more than 600 participants had entered the contest by the registration deadline, Jan. 15.
"Brookdale Community College is taking the lead to help protect the security of our state and nation by creating the country's first CyberCenter initiative," New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education Rochelle Hendricks said in a statement on Jan. 16. "This unique public/private partnership builds a clear pathway from classroom to workforce, providing a much-needed training opportunity for New Jersey students to gain entrance into this important and highly employable field."
The CyberCenter initiative offers training to returning veterans, members of the armed forces, New Jersey high school juniors and seniors, and college students. Each contestant will study the online materials for each of three courses and then compete against other students in a multiple-choice quiz. The highest-scoring competitors will get scholarships, internships and other prizes.
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The biggest problem impeding the hiring of the best and the brightest cyber security experts is NOT the lack of good people. It's the arcane and antiquated hiring mechanisms that plague the Federal Civil Service. For any Open hire we have to first weed through the HR process of certifying that there are NO veterans with the basic skills that might meet our needs. Only then can we possibly get to the listing of already employed Federal employees that might have the basic skills needed to see if they might fit in. Only after going through all these resumes are we even allowed to see any non-Vet non-Fed civilians that may already have ALL the critical skills needed to fill the position. To be clear we have to certify to HR that we can't fill a position with someone that is already in the system that might grow into the position before we can even consider someone in the private sector that already has all the skills needed. This sets up an incestous system that repeatedly robs skilled persons from each other rather than bringing in new personnel. For example: DoD requires that all Information Assurance billets have DoD 8570 certifications before they can perform IA duties. But HR rules state that an existing person in the Federal system or a vet who might fill an Info Assurance billet must be given at least 6 months to get certified AFTER being hired; thus precluding hiring a civilian from outside the system who may already have all the certifications needed. Until the new person gets their certification they cannot perform the duties of that IA billet and if the person cannot get their certification then
the command has to find a place to move that person to! So we end up losing up to 6 months of work while that person is getting their certification and then we might lose that person and have to find a new billet to place them if they cannot get certified and have to start the whole process over for finding someone that can do the duties! If the Federal govt wants to do their best they have to hire the best - regardless of where they come from....
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