Cyber protection
PUBLISHED: July 16, 2010 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: September 1, 2017 at 5:59 a.m.
A shortage of experts to protect the U.S. against hackers has led the government to cast a wide net for talent – and next week that net lands at Cal Poly Pomona.
The 22 winners of a statewide competition that sought to identify Californians with a talent for cyber security – the protection of computers and networks against attacks – are set to gather at the university for a weeklong cyber camp beginning Monday.
Kevan Carstensen, 23, an Upland resident and a graduate student at Cal Poly Pomona, and Sean Kooyman, 20, a Yucaipa resident and a senior at Cal State San Bernardino, are both participants.
Delaware and New York are also hosting camps, organized through the U.S. Cyber Challenge, a nonprofit initiative to build up 10,000 Americans over the next few years to enter the fields of computer security.
"Cyber security is a growing field," said Karen Evans, the national director of the U.S. Cyber Challenge. "There's a limited number of people with the right skill set to do these jobs. We want to create a framework to generate buzz and interest."
About 1,000 people in the U.S. have the skills to work effectively in cyber security, but the need is for about 30,000, said Evans, who previously managed information technology for the George W. Bush administration. The Center for Strategic & International Studies, a bipartisan nonprofit based in Washington, launched the challenge.
Campers of the week-long gathering were the top scorers of an online competition that tested hundreds of Californians' abilities to identify security flaws and weaknesses in an online system.
Kooyman taught himself about computer defense in high school when he was forced to ward off attacks against his own websites, which were dedicated to online gaming.
"It was a war between myself and the people hacking my website," Kooyman said.
He said he wanted to take part in the camp to grow his skills through traditional education.
"Nobody hears much about cyber security," Kooyman said. "Even if they do, there's not much opportunity to study that in school because none of the programs are based around that."
Dan Manson, a Cal Poly Pomona professor who organized the camp, said the university wanted to support young people who showed interest in information security. The camp includes training from senior security trainers at the SANS Institute, a top information security training group, and a panel of experts including a senior vice president of Bank of America, who has 19 years of experience in cyber security and Internet technology.
Cyber security is "a critical issue for our country, for the economic infrastructure of our country, the government infrastructure," said Manson. "We're under constant attack.
But for camp participants, a lot of the appeal is not so much in the need for a security work force, but simply in the fun of the battle.
"It's really like a game, a really intense game," Kooyman said.
rebecca.cho@inlandnewspapers.com; 909-483-9391