cyber crime2

Inadequate cyber warriors to fight against net hackers.

Apparently, there is a shortage of computer hackers willing to fight against the increasing number of cyber criminals. This was according to a former US White House security chief.


Chris Finan claims that there is simply not enough human capital to go around in the estranged field. He was White House director for cyber security from 2011-2012.


Reports indicate that the US military’s Cyber Command is set to quadruple its size by 2015 with a total of 4000 new recruits. On the same, Britain just recently announced a Joint Cyber Reserve last month, and it doesn’t stop there as Brazil, Indonesia among other countries have set up similar initiatives.

Nevertheless, the demand for specialists has hugely surpassed the number of those qualified to handle the job. This has led to a massive staffing crunch as talent is poached by large organizations offering even larger salaries.


Its well-known that cyber-attacks can prove costly, with some companies having lost millions of dollars in such attacks. Worldwide, losses from the same range from $80 billion to $400 billion a year, this is according to the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies.


This is set to create about 65700 new jobs!

Majority of cyber experts choose to work in the private sector, with reports of companies experiencing a speedy increase in spending on security products and services. Based on the level of threat of an attack, some firms are bidding for cyber expertise. On the same, Google is currently running an advertisement, 129 IT security jobs, with other companies in the security arena also looking to hire.


The US Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports that the number of IT security positions in the US is poised to increase by 22% in the decade up to 2020. This is set to create about 65700 new jobs! Analysts say that the situation is more or less the same for the rest of the world, with salaries often increasing by 5 to 7% yearly.


“…the most experienced or skilled earning up to $200 000…”

The reality of things is that a graduate with a good computer studies degree can walk into a $100 000 salary, something that the US National Security Agency would be likely to offer. However, applicants need not have a computer science degree to get those attractive jobs, so long as they can prove their worth in those hard to crack fields like finding software bugs, identifying elusive infections and reverse engineering computer viruses.

cyber crime

Those who are very good may make up to $110 000 to $140 000, with the most experienced or skilled earning up to $200 000 in private sector jobs, this is according to said Alan Paller, founder of the non-profit SANS Institute in Washington.


What’s worrying though is that western security officials believe that Russia, China and other emerging cyber powers such as North Korea have cut deals with their own criminal hacker community to borrow their expertise.

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