Experts Will Convene to Focus on Solutions to Cyber Workforce Shortage
Media Contact: Pat Lopes Harris, 408-656-6999, pat.harris@sjsu.edu
San Jose, CA, July 31, 2013 – U.S. Cyber Challenge (USCC) and San Jose State University (SJSU) are hosting a roundtable discussion featuring national experts from technology, government and academia beginning 11:15 a.m. August 6 at San Jose State University in the Student Union Barrett Ballroom.
The 2013 Western Regional Cyber Security Boot Camp Executive Roundtable Discussion will allow camp participants to hear firsthand from employers, including many Silicon Valley companies, about how best to prepare for work in this critical field, charged with protecting the nation’s cyber assets.
Keynote speakers will include Ashar Aziz, chief technology officer and chief strategy officer for noted cyber startup FireEye, and Ernest McDuffie, lead for the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE). The roundtable will be moderated by Karen S. Evans, national director of U.S. Cyber Challenge.
Panelists will include Bay Area tech executives from firms with a major stake in the cybersecurity workforce including Facebook, FireEye, Visa, McAfee, Veracode, IBM, PG&E, Deloitte, Kaiser Permanente and RSA. The event will be held in conjunction with the 2013 U.S. Cyber Challenge Summer Camp, taking place Aug. 5-9 at SJSU.
Firms represented on the panel sponsored the camp, designed to provide participants with intensive training and pre-professional cybersecurity opportunities. Less than 10 percent of the estimated necessary 30,000 skilled security professionals are in the workplace.
Camp curriculum includes in-depth workshops on a range of topics such as reverse engineering malware, writing exploits, tactical attacks and forensics, all taught by academics, SANS Institute senior instructors and other cybersecurity experts.
The week will be capped with a virtual capture the flag competition and awards ceremony Friday, August 9, inside the SJSU Student Union Barrett Ballroom. The ceremony will include remarks by San Jose State President Mohammad Qayoumi.
The camp is supported in part through sponsorships by San Jose State University, Bay Area Council, the Federal CIO Council, SANS Institute, Avue Technologies Corporation, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Department of Homeland Security, Heartland Technology Group, JMA, CyberAces, Association for Federal Information Resources Management, Federal Bureau of Investigation, SafeGov, Engility, Cigital, NIC, Threat Space, (ISC)2 Foundation, SE Solutions and VISA.
More than 75 camp participants are attending the Western Regional camp and the executive roundtable. Attendees to the invitation-only camps were selected based in part on their scores from Cyber Quests, an online competition offered through the USCC in April that drew more than 1,400 participants from almost 800 schools nationwide.
Camp participants will gain an understanding of the dimensions of the workforce shortage and see how critical their technical skills are to the solution. They will also learn about opportunities available to them through USCC and its partners.
The 2013 Cyber Summer Camp Series features two national week-long camps and two statewide camps. The camps are part of several initiatives underway through USCC, a national campaign focused on identifying and developing cybersecurity talent to meet the country’s critical cybersecurity workforce needs.
For more information about the Cyber Camp program and each of the specific camps, visit USCC online.
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About U.S. Cyber Challenge
U.S. Cyber Challenge (USCC) is a program of the National Board of Information Security Examiners (NBISE), a 501(c)3 organization, and has the mission to significantly reduce the shortage in the cyber workforce by serving as the premier program to identify, attract, recruit and place the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. USCC’s goal is to find 10,000 of America’s best and brightest to fill the ranks of cybersecurity professionals where their skills can be of the greatest value to the nation.
About San Jose State University
San Jose State — Silicon Valley’s largest institution of higher learning with 30,500 students and 3,850 employees — is part of the California State University system. SJSU’s 154-acre downtown campus anchors the nation’s 10th largest city.