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Cybersecurity Workforce Gap

Take a glance at the most discussed cybersecurity topics of the week.

Last year (ISO)2 announced the Cybersecurity Workforce Study 2018, according to which, the shortage of cybersecurity pros is close to three million, while the bulk of the security specialists’ gap is in the Asia Pacific and reaches around 2,15 million.
Not so long ago we mentioned that one of the branches of the Girl Scouts of America was hacked, potentially exposing personal information for thousands of members. Finally, girls are ready to answer cybercriminals and show the courage of a real cyberhero.

The pitfalls of the 10 Year Challenge

CBS Sacramento on January 17, 2019

Recently the popular social media was overflowing with photos tagged #10-Year-Challenge. In only three days the action generated more than five million Facebook interactions.

However, the difference between you at current age and you ten years ago is more than just new hairstyle or other physical change. The number of cyber threats that people face every day increased significantly and what if the “10 Year Challenge” is another point in this list?

The answer is “yes”. Tech experts warned that side-by-side pictures may put users’ cybersecurity at risk and emphasized: the more data you share the more of a target you become. For instance, some memes can be mined to train facial recognition algorithms, while “the majority use is probably going to be for advertising”, tech expert Kate O’Neill said.

Thus, before sharing a funny photo, think about whether it has any impact on your privacy and who may be interested in this global viral action?

Girl Scouts of the US join the ranks of cyberheroes

BBC News on January 20, 2019

Not so long ago we mentioned that one of the branches of the Girl Scouts of America was hacked, potentially exposing personal information for thousands of members. Finally, girls are ready to answer cybercriminals and show the courage of a real cyberhero.

Indeed, Girl Scouts of the USA now can earn badges in cybersecurity. The event, held in Silicon Valley, gave scouts a chance to earn one of the badges through protecting an egg from a fall. The egg represented a password and the fall was a cyberattack.

Although, the main aim of this action is to get more girls involved in STEM disciplines, there were no computers involved in the event.

You have to really strip it down and go to the basics before you can go to something far more technically challenging.

Vonnie French, Senior Vice President of the Palo Alto Networks

Focusing on developing new skills to shorten a cybersecurity workforce gap

Networks Asia on January 21, 2019

Last year (ISO)2 announced the Cybersecurity Workforce Study 2018, according to which, the shortage of cybersecurity pros is close to three million, while the bulk of the security specialists’ gap is in the Asia Pacific and reaches around 2,15 million. Thus, if you ask the whole population of Jamaica to fill this gap, there would not be enough specialists anyway.

To mitigate the lack of cybersecurity knowledge among employees, the U.S. government has begun piloting a Federal Cyber Reskilling Academy program that offers Federal workers the opportunity for hands-on training in cybersecurity. Although the technical skills remain the most important criteria, the reality makes employers widen their approach to addressing the talent shortage.

Cybersecurity fields that do not require deep technical expertise include project management in the security area; analysis of internet content for online radicalization and extremism on social networks; artificial intelligence ethics and compliance with cyber regulations.

Adware campaign targeted a million of Mac users

Threatpost on January 23, 2019

Hackers can be very inventive, especially when it comes to catching users’ attention and involving them in the malicious schemes that finally lead to data loss.

Lately researchers discovered a massive adware campaign that has impacted a million Mac users through a tricking steganography technique, hiding malware in image files. “The perpetrators, as it turns out, have been active for months, but only recently have they begun to smuggle in the malware by way of steganography through the use of image coding,” researchers said.

While the cost impact of the ad fraud estimates more than $1.2 million for just Jan.11, saying “do not click the ad or you will be hacked ” may become a piece of good advice for Mac users.

The post Cybersecurity Workforce Gap appeared first on EdGuards – Security for Education.


*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from EdGuards – Security for Education authored by edguards. Read the original post at: https://edguards.com/egnews/cyber-insights/cybersecurity-workforce-gap/