Cyber Security Help Wanted

Over the past year cyber exploitation activity has grown more sophisticated, more targeted, and more serious. The Global Intelligence Community believes these trends to continue in the coming year. With the realization of the true threat we face from acts of cyber aggression comes a demand for highly qualified resources to protect our information assets and defend our critical infrastructure.

High end recruiting firms like SecurityRecruiter.com that focus on management and leadership are busy these days. The demand is clearly across the entire spectrum from analysts to senior level management positions. Did you know that it has been estimated that only about 30 percent of people can pass a security clearance background investigation? In that past three weeks I personally have had calls/messages from 11 different recruiters seeking candidates for some senior level positions, many of which are around the beltway. This is clearly evidence that the demand for cyber security professional is high and growing. The bullets below also provide insight into the demand growth.

• DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano plans to hire 1,000 security experts over the next three years.


• DoD is expected to recruit, train or contract for nearly 50,000 security experts within the next few years


• A search on cyber security at ClearanceJobs.Com resulted in 284 openings


• A search on cyber security at Monster.Com resulted in 234 openings

Each and every day, each and every hour, cyber attacks are waged against a wide variety of targets on millions of computers and networks around the world. Where will all these trained resources come from to defend against these acts of cyber aggression? One recruiter told me that cyber security positions now demand that candidates have current and relevant training and maintain their level of competency as the threat environment changes.

She went on to say that many candidates stop going to continuing education programs once they get certified, and that is a big mistake. The educational requirements and certifications coupled with the ability to obtain a security clearance will combine to make this a challenge for security firms, the government and military, as well as intelligence organizations around the world.

(Photo: Lockheed Martin)

-- Kevin Coleman