1 00:00:00,510 --> 00:00:05,220 There's been a lot of talk out there in the local and national level about the growing need for employees 2 00:00:05,220 --> 00:00:09,910 and various industries and how employers can find top talent to fill critically needed roles. 3 00:00:10,230 --> 00:00:17,180 One of the fields that is reaching our might already have met a critical need for workers is cybersecurity. 4 00:00:17,460 --> 00:00:21,840 Joining us for more on the growing need for the cybersecurity workforce is Dr. Bryson Payne. 5 00:00:21,990 --> 00:00:26,850 He's the director of the University of North Georgia Center for Cyber Operations in Dahlonega. 6 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,130 Dr. Payne, always great to have you on the program, sir. 7 00:00:29,130 --> 00:00:30,680 Thank you so much for your time here today. 8 00:00:31,710 --> 00:00:33,450 Thank you, Russell, it's a pleasure to be on. 9 00:00:34,170 --> 00:00:38,850 Where are we at, where the cybersecurity workforce I was reading some numbers today that, what, one 10 00:00:38,850 --> 00:00:43,520 point five million unfilled positions by 2020 is what the projection is right now. 11 00:00:43,530 --> 00:00:44,640 That does not sound good. 12 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:52,070 That's right, and what's more, the job field is growing 12 times faster than all other jobs out there 13 00:00:52,070 --> 00:00:52,590 right now. 14 00:00:52,970 --> 00:01:00,440 So cyber security has definitely hit a point where it's the best time to that you could possibly study 15 00:01:00,860 --> 00:01:06,320 any of the cybersecurity fields, whether it's ethical hacking, whether that's forensics, whether 16 00:01:06,320 --> 00:01:09,670 you want to go in as a security analyst, now is the time to do it. 17 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:14,090 We need more people in this field to protect us from the attackers that are out there. 18 00:01:14,540 --> 00:01:19,220 We're fortunate in the U.S. to have some of the best people working in cybersecurity, but we need a 19 00:01:19,220 --> 00:01:19,850 lot more. 20 00:01:20,050 --> 00:01:23,750 Yeah, and it's not just in the civilian workforce to either, right? 21 00:01:23,750 --> 00:01:28,100 I mean, I'm I'm only assuming the government in the military needs as many hands on deck as possible. 22 00:01:28,940 --> 00:01:29,760 Absolutely. 23 00:01:29,780 --> 00:01:35,240 That's one reason the National Security Agency funded our high school program this summer, the National 24 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:36,680 Cyber Warrior Academy. 25 00:01:37,070 --> 00:01:42,320 We took 40 high school students and put them through a full ethical hacking course, just like you'd 26 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:43,960 get from a certification company. 27 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:49,250 And these students came out of there with some tremendous skills to protect themselves, protect their 28 00:01:49,250 --> 00:01:53,840 families, their friends, and eventually protect business or protect their country. 29 00:01:53,990 --> 00:01:55,070 Wow, that's really cool. 30 00:01:55,100 --> 00:01:59,720 I want to get back to that here in a second before we talk a little bit more about the civilian workforce 31 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:01,570 and what's needed out there in the private sector. 32 00:02:01,590 --> 00:02:09,080 I'm I'm curious about the military and what has changed since the digital age began in the cyber age 33 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:14,510 began when it comes to America's military, because I have a friend that I haven't talked to in some 34 00:02:14,510 --> 00:02:14,960 time now. 35 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:19,460 But last I heard from him, he was when the United States Air Force and he was doing some drone work 36 00:02:19,460 --> 00:02:20,720 and doing some pretty cool stuff. 37 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:26,540 So I'm only assuming a lot has changed when it comes to what a military operative in cybersecurity is 38 00:02:26,540 --> 00:02:27,680 doing over the last decade. 39 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:27,950 Right. 40 00:02:28,940 --> 00:02:35,090 Well, absolutely, some of the generals we work with who are alumni from UMG say that this is the single 41 00:02:35,090 --> 00:02:41,390 most critical skill that anyone going into the armed services can pick up, because everything that 42 00:02:41,390 --> 00:02:44,230 we do now goes over those networks. 43 00:02:44,270 --> 00:02:48,460 We send it over a wireless network, we send it over wired networks or fiber optics. 44 00:02:48,890 --> 00:02:54,410 And if you've got the skills to protect that network and defend against attacks, you've got the skills 45 00:02:54,410 --> 00:02:56,270 to help get everything else done. 46 00:02:56,750 --> 00:02:57,100 Mm hmm. 47 00:02:57,230 --> 00:03:00,070 Again, folks, if you're just joining us, we're talking to Dr. Bryson Payne. 48 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:05,270 He's the director of the University of North Georgia Center for Cyber Operations, which is a field 49 00:03:05,270 --> 00:03:07,640 that we all know is growing at an incredible rate. 50 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:10,190 And the jobs are just needed in that field right now. 51 00:03:10,220 --> 00:03:11,070 There's such a shortage. 52 00:03:11,090 --> 00:03:17,480 We've talked to financial experts in the city of Atlanta who have told us that just right here in Georgia, 53 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,120 the need is so rampant right now that they can't keep up. 54 00:03:20,130 --> 00:03:21,200 Companies cannot keep up. 55 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:24,860 They can't keep hackers at bay because there's not enough qualified people. 56 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:27,140 Let's talk about what UMG is doing. 57 00:03:27,170 --> 00:03:31,090 What is your department doing, Dr. Payne, when it comes to bridging that gap? 58 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:37,890 Absolutely, we've had a cyber security program since 2004, so we were actually one of the early ones 59 00:03:37,890 --> 00:03:43,860 in the state to begin in our computer science program, concentration and information, assurance and 60 00:03:43,860 --> 00:03:44,430 security. 61 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:46,770 We call that cyber security these days. 62 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:52,710 But we also have a bachelor's degree in strategic studies that begins this year that will allow you 63 00:03:52,710 --> 00:03:59,370 to mix cybersecurity with a strategic language so you can study cybersecurity and pick up Arabic or 64 00:03:59,370 --> 00:04:01,460 Russian or Mandarin Chinese. 65 00:04:01,890 --> 00:04:06,660 We've got a new graduate certificate that was just approved and that begins this year. 66 00:04:06,900 --> 00:04:09,660 That's a 10 hour intensive three month program. 67 00:04:10,050 --> 00:04:15,870 So students can start next summer and finish during the summer with 10 hours of cybersecurity course. 68 00:04:16,530 --> 00:04:17,790 That's 10 credit hours. 69 00:04:17,790 --> 00:04:23,670 So they'll spend three months studying pretty hard, but they'll pick up some computer ethical hacking, 70 00:04:23,940 --> 00:04:29,370 some computer forensics, and then they get an elective course in several different fields, software 71 00:04:29,370 --> 00:04:30,390 development, security. 72 00:04:30,900 --> 00:04:36,300 So what we're trying to do it North Georgia overall is build cyber heroes, build the next generation 73 00:04:36,300 --> 00:04:37,460 of cyber leaders. 74 00:04:38,370 --> 00:04:40,470 There are so many jobs open out there. 75 00:04:40,620 --> 00:04:45,900 But that means that there's also a lot of need for leadership in this field and no shortage is known 76 00:04:45,900 --> 00:04:46,890 for its leadership. 77 00:04:46,890 --> 00:04:52,530 We're known for strategic languages and we're becoming known for cyber now, which is a great thing, 78 00:04:52,530 --> 00:04:58,350 because as these numbers are pointing out, we we need people right here in Georgia working cyber security. 79 00:04:58,620 --> 00:05:03,810 If you're talking to a high schooler and trying to recruit them into this industry, what do you say 80 00:05:03,810 --> 00:05:04,170 to them? 81 00:05:04,170 --> 00:05:08,670 Because I know this is still a blossoming field that not a lot of people know a ton about at this point. 82 00:05:08,670 --> 00:05:08,940 Right. 83 00:05:09,990 --> 00:05:16,200 That's right, and cyber give students a chance to protect themselves online, just about everything 84 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:22,200 young people do these days because over a cell phone or over a computer Internet, and they're under 85 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:28,530 attack as much as we are as adults or our parents are as older adults, we have to learn how to protect 86 00:05:28,530 --> 00:05:33,300 ourselves first because like you said, there aren't enough people out there doing it for us. 87 00:05:34,170 --> 00:05:38,450 Second of all, it is the hottest new job skill that a young person can pick up. 88 00:05:38,850 --> 00:05:44,160 I don't know very many jobs that will still be here 20 years from now, but I'm pretty sure that cyber 89 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:47,060 security will be there and probably some health care. 90 00:05:47,070 --> 00:05:52,380 So you're not going into cyber I recommend you to go into something in health care. 91 00:05:52,860 --> 00:05:58,590 But seriously, when I'm talking with young people these days, they already love working with computers. 92 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,250 They just don't know that they can do cybersecurity. 93 00:06:02,580 --> 00:06:05,370 And that's what's so great about our National Cyber Warrior Academy. 94 00:06:05,380 --> 00:06:11,430 The National Security Agency pays for the students tuition, the books, their room, their food, everything 95 00:06:11,910 --> 00:06:14,810 for that 10 day program to come and study nothing but cyber. 96 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:15,600 Wow. 97 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:18,420 And how much is that grown since you guys started that? 98 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:23,140 Well, we had one hundred eighty two applicants for the 40 positions. 99 00:06:23,970 --> 00:06:30,790 Well, one thing that we're doing differently this year, the NSA could only fund about 40 seats to 100 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:32,920 because they pay for everything for those students. 101 00:06:33,230 --> 00:06:38,630 But we're offering a course to all 182 applicants from this past year. 102 00:06:39,190 --> 00:06:43,450 They're going to get a full ethical hacking online course that will give them some of the same skills 103 00:06:43,450 --> 00:06:45,360 we practiced in the cyber academy. 104 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:49,750 But it'll give them the chance to work on it over the year and come in next year. 105 00:06:49,750 --> 00:06:55,420 And we're applying for an advanced camp and some teacher camps next year to try to teach local middle 106 00:06:55,420 --> 00:07:01,330 school and high school teachers some of these cyber lessons so that they can share them either in the 107 00:07:01,330 --> 00:07:07,140 regular classes or in an after school program, maybe get a cyber competition team together that will 108 00:07:07,150 --> 00:07:12,490 give that give students a way to interact with cyber and find out what it means when we're talking about 109 00:07:12,490 --> 00:07:19,360 cyber security means protecting your computer, protecting your friends from scams, from phishing emails 110 00:07:19,660 --> 00:07:21,150 and from other attacks over the Internet. 111 00:07:21,300 --> 00:07:24,940 I can tell you what, if I was in high school right now, this is most certainly the career I would 112 00:07:24,940 --> 00:07:25,750 be thinking about. 113 00:07:25,750 --> 00:07:28,930 The future is limitless when it comes to cyber security. 114 00:07:28,930 --> 00:07:30,460 So many jobs need it out there. 115 00:07:30,460 --> 00:07:36,490 And just trying to think of the next 10 or 15 years where that could lead somebody, it's really staggering 116 00:07:36,490 --> 00:07:38,440 to think about, which is a great thing. 117 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:39,780 But these jobs got to be filled. 118 00:07:39,790 --> 00:07:40,880 They got to be filled quickly. 119 00:07:41,110 --> 00:07:45,760 The University of North Georgia working hard to do that with that program there with cyber ops. 120 00:07:45,940 --> 00:07:48,840 Dr. Bryson Payne, thank you so much for your time today, sir. 121 00:07:48,850 --> 00:07:50,280 Certainly appreciate it, as always. 122 00:07:50,290 --> 00:07:51,880 Love to have you back on the show any time. 123 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:53,560 Thank you, Russell. 124 00:07:53,740 --> 00:07:54,640 All right, Dr. Payne. 125 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:57,190 Ten minutes until six o'clock here on Wednesday afternoon. 126 00:07:57,190 --> 00:07:57,630 Newsround.