Six months ago, the Federal Government announced its largest ever investment in cyber security with $1.35 billion to be spent over the next ten years to enhance Australia’s cyber security capabilities through the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and the Australian Cyber Security Centre.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison in his media release said, “malicious cyber activity against Australia is increasing in frequency, scale and sophistication.” In response, the Federal Government made a record investment to ensure that by boosting Australia’s protection and cyber resilience, Australians will be protected.
The investment package includes a $470 million investment to expand the cyber security workforce including over 500 new jobs created within ASD.
The question is, does Australia have the necessary skills to respond to a cyber-skilled workforce?
South Australia’s Premier Steven Marshall, in a speech he delivered during the official opening of School of Information Operations (SOIO) in February last year, mentioned that there is a requirement for a dramatic increase in the number of skilled workers across cyber, IT and electronic warfare.
“That is why ISREW (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare) is a critical component of South Australia’s defence strategy. All current and future defence projects need workers with skills in these areas.”
Glenn Murray, Chief Executive Officer of SOIO, a South Australian training provider focussed in EW, cyber and Maritime Operations training, reiterated that “Australia needs more highly skilled EW and cyber security workers”.
“The bigger question is, does our current cyber workforce have the required knowledge or even basic knowledge in Military Cyber Operations? Will the Australian Signals Directorate be able to fulfill their requirement of over 500 new jobs in the next decade if there is a skills shortage in Australia?”
“There is an urgent need to address this cyber shortage and this is why DEWC T&E is collaborating with Leonardo so SOIO can offer a new range of cyber security courses in Australia.”
SOIO, backed by DEWC T&E’s EW expertise and Leonardo’s deep understanding of Cyber and Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA) environment, have developed a Military Cyber Operations short course to be run from the 2nd to the 4th of February in Adelaide at the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre (A3C).
The Introduction to Military Cyber Operations entry course will be run four times per year with the first course in February tailored for military audiences.
The course will provide students with the basic cyber security principles associated with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. The course will also provide students with an understanding of the Australian Government’s cyber security policies, operations and principles reinforced by practical demonstrations of cyber threats on the A3C’s cyber range.
The School of Information Operations is South Australian based and have conducted training courses locally and in other Australian states. All of SOIO’s courseware is designed to be modular which can be tailored to meet the needs of individual students and organisations across the nation.
See www.soio.com.au to enrol and for a full list of courses, and dates, or Email info@soio.com.au for more information.