On Dec. 22nd, 2011, Government Security News reported on a new US cybersecurity education initiative. According to the article, the initiative would be a public/private collaboration that will seek to educate K-12 about cybersecurity through a series of workshops. Interestingly, the initiative will focus on critical infrastructure. The article mentions that the first set of workshops will teach K-12 about cybersecurity in "health care and public health critical infrastructure." Then, "more critical infrastructure frameworks" will be added in 2012.
The article quoted a Global Institute for Cybersecurity + Research (one of the groups behind the initiative) press release:
“The sustainability and resilience of critical infrastructure secure technologies and the ability to heighten and coordinate situational awareness information-sharing and incident response depend upon a skilled national cybersecurity workforce. Today, the need across government and industry for skilled cybersecurity professionals has never been more critical as the number and complexity of cyber attacks continue to escalate,” said the announcement."
The source article can be found here.
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I actually really like the sound of this program. I'd probably like the sound of any cybersecurity program in K-12 education, but this one especially. The focus on sector specific critical infrastructure really interests me. Obviously, cyber is going to become more and more a part of our everyday lives, so cybersecurity issues aren't going anywhere. Hopefully this initiative signals a new US dedication to educating its citizenry about cybersecurity. We sorely need it.
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