Deepening the Cybersecurity Bench

The Homeland Security Department announced Wednesday that it is launching a new effort to develop and recruit the next generation of cybersecurity experts.

At a meeting with industry and small business representatives at the White House, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said the Homeland Security Advisory Council is taking steps to improve the nation’s cyber workforce.

The new task force, co-chaired by Jeff Moss, founder and director of the Black Hat and DefCon security conferences, and Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, will consider strategies that may include expanding DHS involvement in cyber competitions and university programs, enhancing public-private partnerships and working with interagency partners to develop an agile cybersecurity workforce governmentwide.

“Today we face an increasing demand for the best and brightest in the cybersecurity field across industry, academia and government,” Napolitano said. “DHS is committed to working with our partnerships at universities and throughout the private sector to develop the next generation of cyber professionals to protect against evolving cyber threats.”