Cybersecurity certifications to be recommended by the White House
While their cybersecurity czar plans have been delayed for so long we were all a bit tired for waiting, the White House approach to fighting cyber threats seems to have found a new focus these days: recommending training, exams and detailed certification requirements for cybersecurity professionals employed or contracted by the federal government. And this is going through the careful review of a commission whose main purpose is to advise the Obama administration on cybersecurity policy.
The Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency, which in December 2008 issued its Securing Cyberspace for the 44th Presidency report to Congress, is currently working on a sequel to that report, due sometime in late June or early July. The commission, made up of a who’s who of experts and policy-makers, is debating strategies for building and developing a skilled cybersecurity workforce for the U.S., as well as issues surrounding an international cybersecurity strategy and online authentication.
Of course, the discussion got a bit stuck in the first part of the future report, the cybersecurity workforce. With no one knowing if the new certification recommendation will take into account existing certifications or not, with people in the commission and in the field of cybersecurity having different takes on the issues, and given the need to details qualification needed for each type of IT security pro, I assume it will take a while to get to a common decision on this one 
According to Tom Kellermann, a member of the Commission and vice president of security awareness at Core Security Technologies, the federal government has bigger problems: an insufficient workforce that’s about to shrink some more if certifications become mandatory requirements:
“I would suggest that we need to increase our workforce, but not ostracize those that don’t have certifications to get them or lose their jobs. They should be grandfathered in,” Kellermann says.
Exploring a movie-like scenario, I have to wonder – If they ever want to cut a deal with a genius hacker and have him/her do some anti-hacking work for them, would they care if that person has the required certifications? 
September 26th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
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