Editor’s Note:  Education is the foundation of all cyber security policy. 

WASHINGTON, June 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ — Jim Duffey, Virginia Secretary of Technology; Dr. Ernest McDuffie, Lead for the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), National Institute of Standards and Technology; and Karen Evans, National Director of the U.S. Cyber Challenge will host a roundtable discussion featuring national experts from government, technology and academia on June 26th at 11:15am at the Holiday Inn Ballston in Arlington, Virginia (4610 N Fairfax Drive). The event will examine the critical gap in the cyber security workforce and identify opportunities for closing the gap through creative partnerships and increased focus on education.

The Executive Roundtable will include Gregory Wessel, Technical Director for Signals Intelligence Directorate Cyber, National Security Agency (NSA); Lieutenant General Charles Croom (USAF Ret.), Vice President of Cyber Solutions, Lockheed Martin and former Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency; George Schu, Senior Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton; John Rothenberger, CEO, SE Solutions, John Watters, CEO, iSight Partners (National Technology Partners); Marc Noble, Director, Government Affairs, ISC2; Julie Anderson, Safegov; Craig Spohn, Safegov; Harry Herington, CEO, NIC Inc,; Scott Aken, VP Strategic Ventures, L-3 Communications and other sponsoring organizations.

Less than ten percent of the estimated necessary 30,000 skilled security professionals are in the workplace – it is clear that addressing the gap has never been greater. Through candid discussion and interaction with the audience, the roundtable will assess where skills are most needed, by whom and how best to teach them. Questions to be examined will include: Should a minimum set of qualifications of technical skills be taught and tested in cyber security programs? Should colleges be incentivized to transform their programming courses to make security an integral part of the teaching and grading? The roundtable will provide follow-up to the Human Capital Crisis in Cyber Security report, issued by the Center for Strategic and International Studies last fall to assess what has been accomplished and what needs to be done.

Virginia Tech, in partnership with Booz Allen Hamilton and the US Cyber Challenge organization, is hosting this event in conjunction with the east-coast cyber summer camp in Arlington, Virginia. The cyber summer camp is June 25-29, 2012, and includes four days of instruction by SANS instructors, a career fair, and a cyber-attack/defense competition.

The camp curriculum includes in-depth workshops on a range of topics, including penetration testing, reverse engineering, and forensics, all taught by college faculty, SANS Institute senior instructors and other cyber security experts. The week will be capped off by a virtual “capture the flag” competition and awards ceremony on Friday, June 29th at 12:30pm at the Holiday Inn Ballston. The awards ceremony will include remarks from Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell (video); Dr. Charles W. Steger, President, Virginia Tech; Dr. T. Charles Clancy, Director of the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology; Commonwealth Secretary of Technology Jim Duffey; and camp host George Schu, Sr. Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton.

ISC2 will present $1,000 scholarships to the winning capture-the-flag team.

Avue Technologies will unveil the new USCC online community platform.

Over 50 individuals will be attending the Virginia 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 U.S. Cyber Challenge (USCC) in April that drew over a thousand participants from approximately 400 schools nationwide. Cyber Camp invitations were also extended to individuals who demonstrated proficiency in other U.S. Cyber Challenge competitions, such as the Cyber Foundations, CyberPatriot, NetWars, and the DC3 Digital Forensics Challenge.

The 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 2012 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 cyber security talent to meet the country’s critical cyber security workforce needs.

For more information about the Cyber Camp program and each of the specific camps, visit U.S. Cyber Challenge online at www.uscyberchallenge.org

About U.S. Cyber Challenge:

The mission of the US Cyber Challenge (USCC) is 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 cyber security professionals.

USCC’s goal is to find 10,000 of America’s best and brightest to fill the ranks of cyber security professionals where their skills can be of the greatest value to the nation.

Visit Us Online: www.uscyberchallenge.org