BUILDING CYBER DEFENCE WORKFORCE
Participants at the cyber strategic decision making pilot exercise, May 2014.
BUILDING A SKILLED CYBER DEFENCE WORKFORCE FOR THE EU MILITARY By Wolfgang Röhrig & Susanne Søndergaard
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NTRODUCTION
In many people’s eyes, the topics of cyber security and cyber defence are primarily associated with technology and not so much with people. However, the main success factor in mitigating the risks of cyber attacks is not so much technology but rather our people and the competencies and skills that enable them to act and react in cyberspace. The main challenge for the immediate future for the military will be to recruit, train and retain the right human skills, rather than obtaining the right technology. Industry, enabled by programmes such as Horizon 2020, will provide many technological ways to tackle the myriad threat landscape. The threats that we are facing are ubiquitous and target government institutions whether they be civil or military along with banks, industry or national critical infrastructures. This technology is
likely to be dual-use, that is, applicable in both military and civilian environments. Today, and in years to come, the main challenge for the military will therefore be to have the right, cybersavvy people in our armed forces in sufficient numbers. While the Cyber Security Technology market is broad and evolving, the pool and market for cyber talent which have the potential to become cyber specialists, is relatively small. As a stakeholder which calls upon this talent, the military is unlikely to be able to compete with the private sector with respect to salaries and career opportunities. In its Cyber Defence work strands the European Defence Agency (EDA) has from the beginning put a strong emphasis on the human factor in cyber defence and on education, training and exercise cybersecurity-review.com
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