Australia is facing a massive skills shortage of cyber security professionals and the gap will only get worse unless more is done to invest in education, according to experts in the field.
Wednesday marked the launch of a $3.8 million joint government and private industry funded education program called Cyber STEPs (Secondary to Tertiary Education Partnerships), designed to get cyber education pathways into more high schools.
Cyber STEPs’ aim is to see advanced cyber security taught to year 7–12 students. The program will also be available to TAFEs, other registered training organisations (RTOs) and universities.
Speaking at the launch, James Curran, CEO of Grok Academy, a not-for-profit promoting cyber education, says the skills shortage will only grow into the future.
“Right now, we’re talking about a shortage of 25,000 cybersecurity professionals in Australia,” says Curran, who’s one of the original authors of digital technologies in the Australian curriculum.
“Right now, we’re talking about a shortage of 25,000 cybersecurity professionals in Australia”
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