A huge portion of the national dialogue in the United States has been dominated lately by the apparent attempts by the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election, mostly by digital means. It shouldn’t be difficult to see the implications of this publicity for cybersecurity training.
These implications are especially obvious when one considers that the Russian hacking stories do not exist in isolation. A recent report by Public Works Magazine recalled attention to an attack on the Lansing, Michigan Board of Light and Water. And while this attack was apparently not attributed to any particular state entity, an earlier attack on a dam outside of New York City was linked to hackers based in Iran, thus showing the potentially severe threat that hacking poses to national security.
What’s more, cybersecurity training is by no means only of interest to the US, although California information technology training consultancies will probably remain the top of the heap for the foreseeable future. The Public Works article highlighted very recent incidents in which the British and Irish energy grids might have been compromised, also at the behest of Moscow.
A Growing Concern
The obvious takeaway from these and other incidents is that cybersecurity training will be in high demand among military and intelligence organizations in highly developed countries. But this does not mean that this type of information technology training should only be of interest to people who are interested in serving their countries in these fields. Neither should it be limited to those who are actually planning to pursue information technology training as a centerpiece of their career.
Public Words detailed how the American Water Works Association is making substantial investments in cybersecurity training for existing personnel. This goes to show that cybersecurity protocols are one of the ways in which information technology training is becoming increasingly ingrained into regular training for fields and positions where IT is not the primary focus.
Meanwhile, Computer Weekly reports that the United Kingdom is starting a program aimed at giving cybersecurity training to about 6,000 students between the ages of 14 and 18. The program will almost certainly grow beyond its initial scope, and it represents a clear vote of confidence for the notion that these information technology skills will be relevant to their future career development no matter how closely it hews to their existing interest in computers.
Accessible to Anyone
It goes without saying that the students in that program will have demonstrated substantial IT skills in order to enroll. But it also bears emphasizing that anyone can adapt to the kind of cybersecurity training those kids will acquire at the high school level, if they want to fill a relevant role in their own companies.
Public Works notes that the cybersecurity training being administered by the AWWA can be picked up and utilized quite easily by someone with basic ITIL training or associated skills. What’s more, this training can be acquired online from a Californian information technology training consultancy, after which it can be used to put any given worker in a position to fill a role that is becoming increasingly indispensable throughout both the public and private sectors.