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U.S. Gov't Sponsors InfoSec Defense Training
Anomolous Cow Herd writes: "CNN is reporting that the U.S. government is awarding scholarships to a select few computer science students to study information security, with the caveat that they must agree to work for a government agency for at least two years afterwards. This is in response to the general state of paranoia that has ensued since 9/11, with 'cybersecurity' as a high priority. Considering that a vast majority of government agencies run on Windows NT and derivatives, it's no wonder that they consider the eventual graduating class of 180 'doesn't have a chance.'"
I'd rather see people get scholarships for IT security than for the ability to run fast with an oblong ball.
two years and one month after the first class graduates a new consulting firm will be organized because these programers will realize that they can make 100 times as much by getting hired as outside consultants doing the same job. I don't think that in two years the government is going to get their moneys worth. Are they tring to make life time employees of the state? It won't work. On the plus side their will be a few happy students with scholarships
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On what basis do you make that statement? The most brilliant people almost always look for intellectual challenges and you are much more likely to find those challenges in an academic setting (because that's the point of them). Certainly some very intelligent people burn out and drop out of school but they generally do not live up to their potential intellectually, despite the fact that they may well have a much more satisfying life.
In reality, most of the really brilliant people in this world are professors in universities (note that the reverse is not nessecarily true however).
that usually, many of the most brilliant people aren't that interested in school
Certainly, some intelligent people don't get formally trained. Alot more do.
There is much less correlation between brilliance in the academic success and commercial success - alot of bright people have relatively ordinary jobs. It depends on what they want out of life.
So I don't think that this would deter all the prospective applicants for such a scheme, even though I would value my freedom more than that. Then again, I didn't really have any financial problems through Uni.
If it gives people an opportunity that they might not otherwise get, 2 years of work isn't a bad deal.
My 2c worth
Michael
There is no cryptographic solution to the problem where the intended receiver and the attacker are the same entity.
The difference is that all of the Linux/BSD exploits are out in the open, and a large percentage come from people looking at the source code and going "oops!".
Whilst I know the "many-eyes" theory isn't as good as many people think, I'm sure that the average line of code in an open source app gets more eye time that the average line of code in a proprietary, closed source one, so we find a higher percentage of our security problems. Now, just what percentage of security issues do you think that Microsoft et al actually openly admit to? I don't think there have been more than a couple of occasions where microsoft has said, without someone sticking the proverbial gun in their back, hey - security issue, we fess up, come and get the fix. Do you believe they don't find many more? Sure they do, they either just ignore them or quietly fix them and slip it in a servicepack.
Actually, a large portion of security holes in MS software are fixed before there is an exploit. The problem is the few that aren't get lots of press, and people don't install the patches, and MS still gets the blame. The CodeRed worm is a perfect example. There was a patch available months before CodeRed was even heard of, put people didn't install it, and now everyone points to CodeRed as the perfect example of MS vulnerability.
I'm not saying MS is perfect by any stretch, but check out how many security fixes they offer and compare it to the amount of tools for exploiting them. You'll find most holes are fixed before there is an exploit for them available.
"Information wants to be expensive" - Stewart Brand, the same guy who said "Information wants to be free"
/start tangent
Yes, I do believe some terrorists use this so called "interweb" to communicate. I do not believe we are going to be having cyber terrorists hacking into the pentagon. If they hack into it via the web, well, shame on them for even putting any sort of outside access.
If a cyber terrorist hacks into our missile control system and has it launch missiles at ourselves, we deserve it, because if there is anyway for a terrorist to log onto the missile launch programs from their terrorist hide out we should be bombed for our stupidity.
/end tangent
-- Goto Blasto.Net for GOOD, FREE E-Mail, with many names to choose! Really! GO!
The CERIAS program at Purdue University is one of the recipients of this NSF grant. Other recipients include: CMU, and the Naval Post Graduate School. But this isn't necessarily a slam dunk, you still have to be admitted to the program at the school you apply to.
A free education is nothing to sneeze at. Talk to a current grad student who is either teaching a class or picking up his prof's dry cleaning to pay the bills and they will tell you how they wish they could find a funding source like this.
The institutions that received this grant do cutting-edge research in security that will influence the field for years to come. Heck, I'd do it just to go and study w/Spaf.
it's not going to stop until you wise up, no it's not going to stop. so just give up.
You can't realistically expect the government to be able to attract top of the line talent in IT security with their traditional job structure.
You know: come in from 9 to 5, have a GS rating with plodding single digit percentage raises each year, put up with a few petty bureaucrats, slug it out for several decades and finally retire well off.
The people they're after are young and don't care about retirement plans, but do care they get paid what they're worth on the open market and don't want supervisors having a cow if they come in 8:05 am.
I think any plan, like this one, that helps to get those talented people into government service is just what the government desperately needs.
It reminds me of people going to medical school on military scholarships and serving a while after their schooling is finished.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
... if you're affiliated with the military. There's a field to specify organization, if you put "Bob's Auto Maintenance" instead of "PACOM", they're going to throw out the application. If you lie on the form, they're going to prosecute you for impersonating a government worker or official or something like that.
Luckily, I do work for the goverment. ^^