Feds, all for IT security, too bad they lack the experts to enforce it
While the United States government is dedicated to improving cybersecurity and IT security in general, it has one extremely important problem. They have the game plane, but might be lacking the people to actually implement it. A new report by the non-partisan Partnership for Public Service and the management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton shows the government is confronted with a serious shortage of skilled cybersecurity specialists, and it estimates an 8-fold increase in the number nationally sponsored graduates with security degrees is required.
According to a Register article on the report, the scholarship program run by the federal government produces around 120 entry-level cybersecurity specialists a year. The report advised the number should reach 1,000 to be able to take on the workload. It also showed that while the majority of government reps interviewed see attracting top information security specialists as a top priority, only 40% of them are satisfied with the quality of those applying for the available jobs.
The major downturn of the findings is that the lack of trained personnel might endanger Obama’s cybersecurity plans. Below you can see the report’s recommendations, as published in the Register:
- Developing a nationwide program to encourage more Americans to develop technology, math, and science skills.
- The development by Obama’s cybersecurity czar of a government-wide blueprint for meeting current and future employment needs for information security.
- The establishment of job classifications for cybersecurity and increased funding from Congress to train federal cybersecurity workers to meet those requirements.
