US Cyber Challenge

Security Professional Pipeline

The demand for a trained and educated information security workforce here in the U.S. continues to grow. Creating a pipeline of information security professionals has to start early. A national campaign to develop the next generation of “Cyber Defenders” has been happening without the fanfare or kudos that it needs.

The Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition has existed since 2005 where, according to a USA Today article, has grown from five competing schools to 83 teams from colleges and universities. A similar high school competition has also been established and is seeing great participation. This is exciting! An environment where talent merges with enthusiasm for the the information security field is the right environment to recruit professionals.

I hope these events continue to grow and inspire similar local and regional “cyberwar games” for high school and college teams. I hope they become common recruiting grounds for both the public and private sector. Well done.

US Cyber Challenge – Creative Idea

What a cool idea. This type of approach drives kids into technical fields and really interesting careers.

A new consortium of U.S. government and private organizations has set out to find tech-minded youngsters, divert them from video games and set them on a course to become cybersecurity “top guns.”

The U.S. Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Air Force Association and the SANS Institute this week launched the U.S. Cyber Challenge.

The only troubling piece to this is kids who have been engaged in malicious activity have a significant head start in the capture the flag game. I don’t think we want to have the bad eggs included in the information security profession.

Security Professional Pipeline