A Cybersecurity Education: House Bill 4061

"Now you know, and knowing is half the battle," were words spoken at the end of every G.I. Joe cartoon during the mid-1980s and served as a conclusion to public service announcements. For some reason this statement has always stayed with me and I often use the saying, typically in a sarcastic manner. But late last week and again this morning this 80s era disclaimer resonated once again after the U.S. House of Representatives passed bill 4061, "To advance cybersecurity research, development, and technical standards".

The main tenant of the bill requires President Obama's administration to perform assessments of each agency in order to determine "cybersecurity workforce skills". Additionally, it establishes a scholarship program to be used by undergrad and grad students who also agree to work for the government as "cybersecurity specialists" after graduating. The push is on to educate the current and future government workforce on all things cyber:

“Investing in cybersecurity is the Manhattan Project of our generation,” Representative Michael Arcuri, Democrat of New York, a sponsor of the bill said on the House floor last week. “But this time around we are facing far greater threat. Nearly every high school hacker has the potential to hamper our unfettered access to the Internet. Just imagine what a rogue state could do.”

Mr. Arcuri said that the federal government will need to hire between 500 and 1,000 more “cyber warriors” each year to keep up with potential enemies. Troops online “are every bit as important to our security as a soldier in our field,” he said.

This is an important step in our ongoing cybersecurity battle. The Senate plans on introducing a companion bill soon and that should be a priority since the new proposed budget, while increasing overall defense and cyber related spending, does cut the Homeland Security Department’s cybersecurity division. The hope is that the separate House/Senate bill(s) will make up for that hit at DHS, while starting to create future cybersecurity experts. It seems as though both the House and Senate are taking the topic of cybersecurity seriously and will earmark funds for cyber education.

Although details are still lacking on what the final bill will look like, the focus on education is welcome since "knowing is half the battle".

Posted by Kyle Flaherty

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