The greatest virtual threat today is not state-sponsored terrorism; newfangled clandestine malware; or a hacker culture run amok. The most dangerous looming crisis in information security is instead a severe cyber-security labor shortage, expected to reach 1.5 million job openings by 2019.
Academia has unfortunately failed to keep up with industry trends and is not producing enough data cyber-security specialists to handle surging demand. According to one recent study, only a handful of the 50 top university computer science programs in the United States require that students take even one cyber-security course. There exist world-renowned schools and academic programs of law (despite an extraordinary glut of attorneys and 200+ accredited law schools); business (despite the decreasing value of an M.B.A. and almost 400 U.S. business schools); and journalism and politics (as if we need more pundits). Yet there remains a dearth of campuses dedicated to computer science, cyber-security, and data breach response.
