In what could be alarming news to the country’s corporate and defense establishments, global leader in InfoSec certifications and trainings, EC-Council revealed that less than 1% of Indian IT students have been found skilled in secure programming. This announcement is a revelation of the findings based on the report, ‘The Talent Crisis in InfoSec’ that was unveiled today by Mr. Jay Bavisi, President, EC- Council.
A mere 13% of engineering students were found to be trainable in the InfoSec domain with nearly 86% unskilled even on InfoSec basics. Speaking on these findings, Jay Bavisi, President and Co-Founder, EC-Council said, “The world is recognizing vulnerabilities leading to cyber threats and attacks and India holds a key position in the global IT-ITeS map. Every country is taking steps towards building a talent pipeline towards a secured future and we urge the Indian industry and academia to address the concerns to retain their leadership in the domain.”
EC-Council initiated a research project to measure the sensitization towards InfoSec skills and associated risks. In this report, EC-Council hopes to bring to light some key factors, that has undeniably contributed to the global phenomenon of “cyber insecurity”.
A relatively smaller chunk of the talent pool is seen at the more extreme end of the spectrum indicating advanced understanding of the subject.
These findings on talent pipeline also raise concerns for the India’s IT/ITes. The IT-BPO industry is currently sized at about $100 billion. However, to continue creating software that serves the world, secure programming holds high importance since it is the foundation of every software. Given the fact that 86% of students are unprepared and have low awareness of cyber security, the role of the industry and academia becomes all the more challenging.
Cyber security has emerged as a top concern for economies the world over as incidences of cyber hacking, espionage and terror attacks have been on the rise. Recent reports peg the losses of global economy at around $110 billion due to cyber threats with India contributing a chunk of $8 billion to this. India declared its first National Cyber Security Policy in July this year which aims to create 500000 Infosec professionals by 2015. According to industry data, as of now, only around 34 out of the country’s roughly 500 universities are offering courses in the InfoSec domain. EC Council has been collaborating with educational institutions across India aggressively to help create a steady pipeline of cyber security professionals for India. Apart from the pool already trained by EC-Council they expect to add nearly 40000 more Infosec professionals to the present talent pool by early 2014.
The analysis for the report is based on a sample size of more than 10,000 students from various academic institutions across India. All these candidates appeared for a nationwide competition, Code Uncode, held by EC-Council for students and professionals, to assess their knowledge in the information security sector.
The sample size was classified into four zones, namely, East, West, North and South. The participants hailed from IT and Engineering colleges across India.
Using test scores and applying statistical tools on these scores, participants were classified into three groups, which were: Ineligible, Skilled, and Trainable talent.
Ineligible talent is a group of participants who are unequipped with even the basic skills on InfoSec and have a low understanding of programming languages. We classified this group by calculating test scores that were less than the average scores + 1x Std. Deviation.
Skilled talent is a group of participants with ample understanding of basics of InfoSec and are ready to enter the industry. We classified this group by calculating test scores that were more than the average scores + 3x Std. Deviation.
Trainable talent is a group of participants with low understanding of InfoSec, but are equipped with programming skills and have clarity on basic terms of InfoSec, and are trainable by any company that hires them. We classified this group by calculating test scores that were more than the average scores +1x Std. Deviation but less than average scores + 3x Std. Deviation.
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