Cybercorps to extend to states

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2002/0722/web-cyber-07-23-02.asp

By Colleen O'Hara 
July 23, 2002

The White House's national strategy to protect cyberspace, scheduled
for release in September, will contain a provision that extends a
federal scholarship-for-service program to the state level, said
Richard Clarke, cybersecurity adviser to President Bush.

The Federal Cyber Service program provides scholarships to
undergraduate and graduate students studying computer security in
exchange for two years of federal service. The first group of students
is nearly finished with their first year in the program.

Six universities - the University of Tulsa, Carnegie Mellon
University, the Naval Postgraduate University, Iowa State University,
the University of Idaho and Purdue University - have received
scholarship money. Currently, 66 students ages 22 to 64 participate in
the program.

The cybercorps is important because the government does not have
enough trained experts to protect federal systems, Clarke said,
speaking July 22 at the 2002 Cyber Corps Symposium at the University
of Tulsa. "We will fight a future cyberwar," Clarke said. "Right now
we are not in good shape." The nation is dependent on cyberspace,
which opens up vulnerabilities that need to be fixed, he said.

Recognizing that state and local agencies also need trained
professionals to protect their networks, the cybersecurity strategy
"calls upon state governments to create a state cybercorps," Clarke
said.

Clarke would not reveal additional details of the cybersecurity
strategy.

The Cyber Service program is scheduled to get a boost from the
emergency supplemental funding bill scheduled for a vote in Congress
this week. The bill contains $19 million to expand the Cyber Service
program, Clarke said. "The president thought this was an emergency."

If the provision remains in the bill, the program would be extended to
four additional schools in September.



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