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Uncle Sam to form `Cyber Corps'

The US government, in dire need of specialists to protect the nation's information systems, is offering to pay university costs for a new "Cyber Corps" willing to work for Uncle Sam.

The deal: the government will pay college fees -- up to US$25,000 a year at some prestigious schools -- for up to two years, in exchange of one year in government service for each year a scholarship is paid.

The grants bring to fruition an idea first launched more than two years ago by the administration of president Bill Clinton to create a "Cyber Corps" of young professionals to work in cybersecurity.

"These scholarships will encourage young people to enter the field of information security and assurance, and give them an opportunity to put their talents to work at the front lines of government cybersecurity efforts," said Rita Colwell, director of the National Science Foundation, which is administering the grants.

The first US$8.6 million in scholarships were announced last month by Richard Clark, a top White House security adviser who once warned that the US could face a "digital Pearl Harbor" if it fails to defend against hackers and others trying to attack the country's information systems.

While warnings have been around for some time, the number of incidents in cyberspace has escalated in recent months:

-- The White House Web site was brought down twice in recent weeks as a result of denial of service attacks amid a skirmish between US and Chinese hackers.

Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli hackers have extended their battles to cyberspace, with attacks hitting, among others, the Israeli foreign ministry and the guerrilla group Hezbollah.

-- Other incidents include Serbians who knocked out NATO computers and Myanmar's military government targeting an e-mail virus at political opponents.

Shirley Malia, a policy analyst at the US government's Critical Infrastructure Assure Office (CIAO), said US defense and intelligence agencies have long been aware of the need for security "but the civilian agencies have not had the same awareness or the same need up to now."

But officials note that civilian computer systems, such as air traffic control, electric power management, social security or tax information, are equally critical and have the same need for security.

"The information age has changed the way most of us work because the need for security is increasing," said Malia.

CIAO acknowledges that the federal government's shortfall of skilled information systems security personnel "amounts to a crisis."

The scholarship incentive is similar to programs that provide doctors or agricultural specialists in needed areas.

The Cyber Corps program is expected to produce at least 100 professionals for the government per year, and also improve educational programs.

The first scholarships will be awarded through Carnegie Mellon, Iowa State and Purdue Universities, the Universities of Idaho and Tulsa, and the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey, California.
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