US-UK calls on hackers to play their games

The U.S. Government recently launched a new competition in hopes of finding the best and the brightest future cyber-security experts.

The U.S. Cyber Challenge (USCC) -- which will continue through May 20 -- is an opportunity for any American to sign up for and compete in a series of online competitions sponsored by the SANS Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The 20 most impressive applicants will be rewarded with NROTC education scholarships and employment opportunities that will allow them to serve their country, while also remaining on the cutting edge of technological development and change.

Other applicants who prove themselves worthy will also be provided with opportunities to become involved with other new government-related cyber-security initiatives.

“We recognized early on that there’s a need in the evolving and changing nature of warfare,” said Vice Admiral Mark Ferguson, the chief of navy personnel. “Many of us at our age our digital immigrants, and we need digital natives.”

The USCC comes at a time when experts estimate the government is suffering from an extreme lack of skilled professionals necessary to meet the country’s cyber-security demands for the next century. The government will require approximately 10,000 to 30,000 IT professionals in the coming years to properly operate the country’s most sensitive information technology; currently the government only retains about 1,000 individuals who are capable of doing the necessary work.

“We as a nation can’t use our superiority and weapons if we don’t control the computers because the computers fire the weapons,” said the SANS institute director of cyber research Alan Paller. “Because we are more computerized than other countries, we are more vulnerable than others.”

The USCC also comes on the heels of a report issued by the Chief Information Officers Council entitled, “Net Generation.” The report laments the government’s ability to recruit and retain young workers -- primarily between the ages of 17 and 31 -- to fill much-needed IT-related jobs. And, as the private sector continues to increase its dependence on the same technologies (and raise salaries for those who know how to use them), it is essential for the government to focus on how to get to this generation of skilled technologists -- also known as “millennials” -- into the federal workforce.

“You are going to have to think differently,” said Dave Wennegren, deputy chief information officer at the Department of Defense (DoD). “The skills of your past are maybe not the skills that you need for the future. The approaches of the past are maybe not the approaches of the future if you want to be a world class organization.”

But filling IT jobs isn’t just important for security, its also important for the economy. The recently released 2010 Cyber State report discovered a four percent decline in high-tech jobs last year. This drop occurs after four years of steady growth in the industry. And with the current expansion of the federal government’s workforce, IT applicants are desperately needed and wholly desired.

The United Kingdom is following in the footsteps of the U.S. and holding their own Cyber Security Challenge (CSC), which is being sponsored by the Metropolitan Police Department, among other organizations and groups. A series of challenges will be presented to participants that include network defense, digital forensics and Web site code vulnerability.

The director of the CSC, Judy Baker, told the BBC, “We are increasingly dependent on networks and computer systems. The whole digital economy and society is structured around them. There’s a real need for people with these skills and they can give great value back to the nation as a whole.”