There’s good news and bad news for higher education in President Obama’s new push to protect the nation’s digital infrastructure.
The good news is that colleges could benefit as the federal government promotes — and possibly pays for — work-force training and cybersecurity research.
The bad news is that anybody looking for specific details on what will happen — and how much money might be available — won’t find them in the new report put out by the White House last week.
“Cyberspace is real, and so are the risks that come with it,” Mr. Obama said as he pledged to make the issue a priority. “This status quo is no longer acceptable — not when there’s so much at stake. We can and we must do better.”
One of the problems with the status quo is a shortage of cybersecurity workers, said Rodney Petersen, coordinator of the security task force at Educause, the higher-education-technology association.
That means jobs like chief information-security officer. Forensics expert. Security analyst. Incident handler. Training these workers is one of the main areas where colleges — especially community colleges — can play a role, Mr. Petersen said.
The report urges the federal government to “expand support for key education programs.” Mr. Petersen pointed to two National Science Foundation programs in particular. One is Scholarship for Service, though which students can get money for college in exchange for taking an agency job in the federal cybercorps. Another is called Advanced Technological Education, which focuses on two-year colleges.
The report also recommends increased money for cybersecurity research through the National Science Foundation and other organizations.
The catch: It’s just a concept paper. It doesn’t come with any money. For Mr. Petersen, who participated in the process that led to the report, the disappointment is that specific details on how all this will happen are “left for another stage.” He also pointed out that we’ve been down this road before with other presidents.
“A lot of people feel this is a little different because unlike previous administrations, Obama seems to have a personal level of commitment that hasn’t been stressed before,” he said.
For those interested in learning more, next month Mr. Petersen will give a presentation about the White House review and other legislative and regulatory developments at Dartmouth College’s Securing the eCampus conference. —Marc Parry
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