Community Outreach: The Need for Information Security Pros

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It's time for information security professionals to give back to their communities - to reach out and educate businesses, schools and citizens about cybersecurity and other relevant issues.

This is the message from John Rossi, professor of systems management/information assurance at National Defense University.

In an exclusive interview, Rossi discusses:

Rossi is a Professor of Systems Management/Information Assurance in the Information Operations and Assurance Department at the National Defense University (NDU) Information Resources Management College (IRMC). Prior to joining the NDU/IRMC faculty, he was a computer scientist for information security, research, and training with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration Headquarters. He was Security Division Manager of the U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Weapons Production Security Assessments Program and National Program Manager for Computer Security Certification and Accreditation (C&A) with the U.S. Department of Defense during Desert Storm.

TOM FIELD: What are ways that information security professionals can give back to their communities? Hi, I'm Tom Field, Editorial Director with Information Security Media Group and we are going to go over that question today with John Rossi, Professor of Systems Management and Information Assurance at the National Defense University.

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John, thanks so much for joining me again today.

JOHN ROSSI: Oh it's great to be here, Tom; thanks for having me back.

FIELD: John, we have talked before, and so our audience certainly knows you. Why don't you just quickly update us on what sort of projects you are involved in these days?

ROSSI: Yeah, it is good to be back with this audience. What I am doing here at the National Defense University is running classes and often certificate programs in the field of information assurance, or what we might call now cybersecurity/computer security/telecomm. Most of the students are military, but we also have civilian federal government and internationals as well. The area that we are really moving into now is a lot more outreach, globally well as locally, so this is a very timely topic.

FIELD: Well, you suggested the topic, and it is one that fascinates me. So the premise is that security professionals should practice more outreach; what exactly do you mean by that?

ROSSI: It is probably no secret that information technology professionals and security professionals specifically tend to be a little bit on the "geeky" side. We hide in our offices, and we generate code or we write policy; we will do telecommunications software, and we kind of tend toward "leave us alone and let us do our thing." But I think where we really need to move is to integrate ourselves better into the community.

We have seen years ago that CEO's needed to have a place at the corporate table; well, now we are saying that Chief Information Security Officers also need a place at that table. And not only at the corporate table, but I believe that it is very important, professionally and personally, to reach out to the community at large; our own local communities, our libraries, our high schools, our junior high schools, our colleges. And so what I mean is that the security professional should get out and inspire, motivate, mentor individuals and groups in the community.

FIELD: Well, you make a good point here, John. You know these are stretching some new muscles for a lot of people in the profession, so what are some effective ways that security professionals can share their expertise?

ROSSI: Well, I will share with you what I have done, and that way if I have walked the walked, then there are others who can do it as well. There is nothing special about me.

What I have done is I have raised my hand to speak at conferences, so security professionals that come to conferences, security conferences, will get to hear whatever I happen to be thinking of at the moment, whatever the topic is, and that is one way.

Maybe a little more grassroots, though, is to get to the youth of the community and speak in some of the inner city schools. I have gone out to local inner city Washington, D.C. high schools and spoken about fields, about careers in the information technology field and the information assurance field, and it kind of gives those youngsters something to look up to, look forward to, see how they can contribute to the community.