Gov. Deval Patrick helped to kick-off a cyber-security competition and workforce training program Thursday that program founder Allen Paller said will help "create the specialists we need" in the nation’s second-fastest growing field.
The competition – called the Governor’s Cyber Aces State Championship and launched from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston – aims to provide scholarships and find talent among local high school, community college and university students, as well as job seekers, veterans and armed-forces members.
"Advances in cyber technology bring the world to our fingertips with the click of a button," said Patrick at the launch. "Addressing cyber threats gives us a chance to add to our robust technology economy."
Information technology was projected to be the second-fastest growing field in the nation by a 2008 Bureau of Labor Statistics report. The report projects an additional 10,000 elite cyber technician and 55,000 operator and administrator jobs will be created nationwide by 2018, according to a press release from Patrick’s office.
Paller’s nonprofit Cyber Aces organized the competition in conjunction with Massachusetts’ Executive Offices of Education, Labor and Workforce Development, the Massachusetts National Guard and the Department of Veterans Services, among others.
Close to 5,000 high school and college students, veterans and job seekers have participated in Cyber Aces, which was founded in 2012.
Using a series of courses and subsequent quizzes covering networking, operating systems and secure system administration held online through mid-December, a group of finalists will be chosen to compete in high-stakes simulations during the spring championships.
Winners then may take an entrance exam for admission to a Cyber Academy that can lead to high-paying public jobs in both public and private sectors, according to a press release. Educational background is not a factor, only talent, said Paller.
Besides giving out scholarships, the competition’s May 3, 2014 championships will in part act as a job fair.
"It gives the competition real resonance," said Paller. "In New Jersey, the state agencies were all over the contestants."
Both state agencies and non-profits looking for cybercrime assistance are expected to attend the championships, said Paller.
"Actually, medium and small do-gooder organizations need them more than big corporations do. They get hit by cybercrime pretty hard. But, the pipeline of talent is so small that they get sucked up by the state department pretty quickly," he said.
With Thursday’s announcement, Massachusetts has become the sixth state to host an official Cyber Aces competition, joining Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey and New York.
Maj. Gen. Scott Rice of the Massachusetts National Guard spoke at the launch, saying that the Boston area is "an ideal location" for developing a cyber-security workforce.
"The [National] Guard is just now deciding where to place cyber units, and Greater Boston Area is perfect," he said. "Our infrastructure, our high tech industry, our federally-funded research and development centers and our exceptional education system in Massachusetts is a low-cost, very high-return for stationing cyber-focused units."
Registration ends Oct. 12 and can be completed online at http://www.cyberaces.org/
