Military finds IT security certification difficulties
The U.S. Army is having a hard time manning its IT staff because it cannot find military personnel with the right networking and IT security qualifications.
The Department of Defense (DOD) Directive 8570.01-M is a military regulation first published in 2005 that puts forward considerable detail on the workplace and related training and certifications that military personnel -- and now contractors as well -- must have to operate DOD-related information systems for information assurance purposes. But the problem for the Army at this point is that it doesn't have enough personnel with the required training, said Lisa Lee, information assurance program manager, Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems in the U.S. Army.
To cope with the shortage of certified personnel, the Army is altering its guidelines so that not as many individuals working in areas it calls "an enclave boundary" -- defined as a specific set of routers and firewalls -- will have to meet the previous requirements, said Lee, who spoke on the topic on behalf of the Army at the recent FOSE Conference in Washington, D.C.
