Cybersecurity Plan Means New Jobs

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So, the Obama administration has presented its cybersecurity plan establishing the practice as a major, new national priority.

What does this mean for information security careers?

Security experts that work closely with the government offer insights on the direction the new administration has taken regarding its security policies and how these can impact security careers.

1. More Cybersecurity Jobs in Govt.

The reason cybersecurity is getting so much attention is that our nation's physical and economic survival are at risk if major IT disruptions occur. "The government, like business, cannot function without IT, therefore President Obama has promised to increase spending in cybersecurity, which strongly suggests more employment," says Kathy Roberson, Senior Human Resource Consultant with the Office of Personnel Management. This comment is aimed mostly at all federal departments, but hires are specifically going to be desired within the National Security Agency and DoD, she says. With the release of the new cybersecurity report, Roberson expects cybersecurity hires to increase by at least a 1000 per year within the federal government.

2. Increased Demand by Government Contractors

Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon all have major cyber contracts with the military and intelligence agencies and are anticipating new projects to fall their way with so much emphasis being given to protection of critical infrastructure. These companies have been moving quickly to lock up the relatively small amount of expertise available in this field "Cybersecurity is embedded in everything that we do, therefore all projects need cybersecurity expertise. Many of the programs require some type of intrusion detection, prevention, incident response and handling, or computer forensics experience," says Jeffery Adams, Director of news and information at Lockheed Martin. At General Dynamics, Nadia D. Short, vice president of strategy & business development, says "The three main positions we are looking for currently include an additional need for cyber security analysts who will perform investigations and incident response activities; reverse engineering experts who not only lead investigations but follow audit trails associated with different exploitation and attacks; and computer forensics experts who understand file systems, log histories, patching and chain of custody activities."

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3. Critical and Advanced Technical Skills Needed

The new administration has shown a focus on advanced technical skills, says Alan Paller, Executive Director, SANS Institute. For example: The head of United States Strategic Command (Stratcom) recently told Congress about the critical shortage of these skills and the need to correct that shortage. In addition, the CSIS Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th President, which is helping to drive the new administration's priorities, pointed out the critical need for advanced technical skills, listing specifically: vulnerability analysis, penetration testing, computer network attack, intrusion detection, digital forensics, reverse engineering, protocol analysis and secure network engineering. "I believe the nation is seeing the decline of the age of security compliance and the dawn of the age of hands-on security," says Paller.

4. Greater Emphasis on Data Protection and Privacy:

"Not a day goes by without hackers or criminal activities and fraud hitting the news- a clear reminder to the new administration that they need to take appropriate steps to fill these gaps," says Hord Tipton, CEO, ISC2. Tipton says he has learned through his involvement with the federal government that the new administration will most likely come up with a new set of guidelines for data protection, which will become a strict enforcer of privacy under Obama's eye. This again will open more employment opportunities in the area.

5. FISMA Reform: Senior Security Executives Needed

Congress enacted the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) in 2002, establishing a framework for government agencies to bolster IT and network security. FISMA at the heart of it is just a regulation directed at adequate security measures agencies should be implementing to protect their IT assets.