Are we short of cyber security professionals?
By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 07 October 2009, 21:50 IST   |    3 Comments
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Are we short of cyber security professionals?
Los Angeles: Justin Feffer, a Senior Investigator at the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, drove to a suspect's house last December for a search relating to an identity-theft case. Upon arriving at the crime scene, he did what cops normally do. He took down the license number on the truck in the driveway, noted the surveillance cameras that were placed and the windows that were covered in paper. But then, he did something unusual for a local cop, reports Wall Street Journal. Feffer pulled out his iPhone and checked for any unencrypted wireless access points nearby. While the Internet has vastly expanded the reach of criminals, the digital fingerprints that these activities leave can be a powerful investigative tool, for those with the knowledge and equipment to use it. But according to security experts, it is becoming extremely difficult to find cybersecurity experts. The recent effort by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) to hire some 1,000 new cybersecurity experts could hit a wall due to this. The iPhone check, says Feffer, helped avoid the predicament that befell two other law-enforcement agencies that raided the wrong house on successive days, because the real suspect in a child pornography case had been using an innocent person's unprotected wireless Internet connection. Feffer didn't find any wireless loopholes that could be exploited. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced last week that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget have both agreed to allow the agency to hire up to 1,000 security experts over the next three years to ramp up its cybersecurity efforts, reports Computer World. According to Alan Paller, Research Director at the SANS Institute, a Bethesda, based computer training and certification organization, DHS has a critical need for strong technical skills among its security professionals who handle tasks like intrusion analysis, malware reverse engineering, security auditing, secure code analysis, penetration testing and forensics. "The president is intent on equipping this department with the tools it needs," Napolitano said at an event last week, marking the start of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. "We expect to bring them on board over the next - at a maximum - the next three years, but we hope to do it more quickly than that." DHS will be looking for analysts, programmers and systems engineers - talent that currently is in short supply at the department. The hiring plan will focus on strengthening the security of the federal civilian networks, as well as supporting the Secret Service in combating cyber crime. These additional staff positions will also be used to improve enterprise security requirements throughout DHS's 23 agencies, according to Napolitano.

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