I haven't had a chance to review the article yet but thought i would share.
The Obama administration on Friday released the first-ever roadmap for building a U.S. cybersecurity workforce and testing the government's success at raising public awareness of computer threats.
Currently, there is no definition of what it means to be a cybersecurity professional. The draft strategic plan sets forth a way to measure the results of federal and private sector workforce development efforts.
The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, or NICE, abranch of the Commerce Department, developed the proposal this spring tobring some order to the new frontier of cybersecurity training, agencyofficials said at the time.
"This plan will provide a path to a more secure digital nation,"states the document, which also attempts to gauge the influence of cyberpublicity campaigns.
The plan includes specific instructions for the federal government onhow to "maintain an unrivaled, globally competitive cybersecurityworkforce." For example, by 2012, agencies must adopt cybersecuritycompetency models. By 2015, the government will produce an estimate ofthe health of the national cybersecurity workforce. By then, federalcontractors also will be required to comply with standard cyberworkforce descriptions to win government business. And, the governmentexpects to see a 20 percent increase in qualified cybersecurityprofessionals nationwide.
Developing qualifications for cyber pros is another part of the28-page strategy. By 2013, officials will have created a baseline forthe skills required of all cybersecurity professionals. By that year,leaders also should be able to assess the strength of federal, state andlocal cybersecurity staffing against defined competencies.
Much of the framework, which is open for comment until Sept. 12,concentrates on collaborative projects with the private sector andacademia.
Federal officials want the strategy to be standard reading for abroad audience: the average person who surfs the Web, students,teachers, information technology managers, human resources staff andentrepreneurs.
It calls for working with universities and companies to identify newworkforce requirements that most assuredly will be demanded byever-evolving threats and advances in technology.
During the past several years, the federal government has supportednumerous promotions and youth competitions to publicize the nationalsecurity dangers of cyber espionage and the financial damage wrought bycybercrime. Critics have called some of the government's publicawareness initiatives nonproductive.
The strategy defines goals for the various movements, such as theStop. Think. Connect. messaging tactic that is supposed to spread theword on how to safeguard information online. Under the policy, suchactivities are expected to reduce fraud victimization, as well as drivepeople to equate the precepts of cyber safety to the wisdom of wearingseat belts.
"The public is insufficiently aware of the risk of sharinginformation in cyberspace -- which can affect personal and nationalsecurity," the roadmap states.
Government resources available to citizens and federal employees willinclude a public Web site where they can look up information oncybersecurity awareness and education. NICE also will launch an internalfederal repository for sharing and storing reference materials.
The report's instructions for raising the bar on cyber education aremostly geared toward local governments and academia. Among the requisiteoutcomes: By 2018, a quarter of states will have adopted nationalcybersecurity education standards for grade school students, and therewill be a 25 percent increase in the number of federally designateduniversities offering specialty programs in critical networkprotections, digital forensics and other cyber fields.
"All this activity aims at leveraging work begun by the U.S.government working together with teachers, parents, students, andbusinesses to improve science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)education to better prepare students to lead in the 21st centuryeconomy," the strategy states.