Cyberwarrior Shortage Threatens US Security 394
An anonymous reader writes "US security officials say the country's cyberdefenses are not up to the challenge. In part, it's due to a severe shortage of computer security specialists and engineers with the skills and knowledge necessary to do battle against would-be adversaries. The protection of US computer systems essentially requires an army of cyberwarriors, but the recruitment of that force is suffering. 'We don't have sufficiently bright people moving into this field to support those national security objectives as we move forward in time,' says James Gosler, a veteran cybersecurity specialist who has worked at the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the Energy Department."
Re:Perception... (Score:5, Informative)
Instead, they tell them to go law because "there is no such thing as an unemployed lawyer."
There are now many unemployed lawyers. See the lawyer layoff list. [law.com] There's now "legal process outsourcing [legalproce...urcing.com], and it's not just clerical work any more. You can now send work to cheap lawyers in a Bangalore call center.
A lawyer I was using was recently laid off by his downsizing law firm. It happens.
Re:Duh, they are in jail. (Score:2, Informative)
Go read The Hackers Crackdown, its available online, and enlighten yourself. Some of the best minds in the net told the government back in the day how stupid it was to incarcerate people that commited no real crime.
Re:Duh, they are in jail. (Score:2, Informative)
A great book was made about it: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Mafiaboy-Craig-Silverman/9780670067480-item.html?ref=Search+Books%3A+'mafiaboy [indigo.ca]'
Got that book for Xmas. Great read and cool story
Re:The root of the problem... (Score:4, Informative)
Really?! For a country that penalizes this stuff more than anybody else, we sure do whole lot of it!
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_res_and_dev_exp_of_gdp-economy-research-development-expenditure-gdp [nationmaster.com]
http://ideas.repec.org/a/eaa/eerese/v5y2005i5_9.html [repec.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation#Measures [wikipedia.org]
Perhaps next time you should engage your brain before spouting off Slashdot banalities designed to curry you favor with the mods!
Re:Ah, better to crack'em down. (Score:5, Informative)
On monster.com I had the grand total of 11 hits for the whole US.
Deja moo might be an understatement.
You know, I would happily apply (Score:3, Informative)
You know, as a U.S. citizen with a data systems security background, university degrees, CISSP, etc., I would happily apply for work with the U.S. government.
However, every position I've discovered requires an existing security clearance, something you cannot just go out and get, at any price.
Re:There isn't a shortage (Score:3, Informative)
There is a shortage. I do security code reviews and we have a challenging time finding good people. The prepress report talks about a lot more than dusty old government jobs.
Re:Because those jobs suck. (Score:4, Informative)
First the applicants have to get a security clearance, which weeds out all non-citizens and a good deal of other applicants,
Don't forget that the Federal government is big on drug testing, and the people who'd do well at this job are likely to be users of a fairly harmless, naturally-growing herb which happens to be highly illegal, and whose users are routinely thrown in prison for long terms, causing other dangerous and violent criminals to be released early to make room for them.
Re:Jail time? (Score:4, Informative)
Each one represents a backspace. Typing "hacker^H^H^H^H^H^H computer security expert" would imply that I initially typed 'hacker' and then changed my mind, deleted it and replaced it with 'computer security expert'.
You may also see ^W which deletes the whole word.
Fuck the feds! (Score:1, Informative)
As an infosec professional, why in the hell would I ever want to work for the feds? The amount of regulations, bureaucratic requirements and searches of my asshole makes me run the other way. Not to mention the pay is not that great to begin with, as I would have to take a paycut to move into the government sector.
The last thing: stop calling it a fucking cyber war!!!
Re:Duh, they are in jail. (Score:4, Informative)
How is this off-topic? At a certain level of government, homosexuality is enough to get you excluded from the game. That means there are likely some qualified candidates who are excluded based off a fairly arbitrary criteria.
That level is ONLY within the ranks of the military itself. It has nothing to do with civilian contractors. I personally know two trans-gendered people with clearances, deviation from the sexual norm is not a significant problem.
Re:Because those jobs suck. (Score:1, Informative)
First the applicants have to get a security clearance, which weeds out all non-citizens and a good deal of other applicants,
Don't forget that the Federal government is big on drug testing, and the people who'd do well at this job are likely to be users of a fairly harmless, naturally-growing herb which happens to be highly illegal, and whose users are routinely thrown in prison for long terms, causing other dangerous and violent criminals to be released early to make room for them.
A big mistake many people make is to lie (or omit) past drug use. This tends to end up being discovered, and then you can't get any job that requires clearance.
What people don't realize is that past drug use, and sometimes even current drug use, does not automatically disqualify you for clearance... but lying about it does.
Re:Duh, they are in jail. (Score:3, Informative)