Cyber war: Be militant and soldier on
Last week, the National Cyber Security Centre’s annual review laid bare the UK’s current threat landscape for all to see. But the idea that the government is repelling cyber attacks on a daily basis is not news to me.
We know the scale of the threat. The UK has a very clear modus operandi, and that is to use the disinfectant of sunlight on state-sponsored attacks on UK sovereignty.
And we are absolutely right to do that. The government is behind on a lot of issues, but not cyber. I know that the security minister takes it seriously, and that we are applying the full apparatus of the state in trying the counter this growing threat.
But for businesses – and they do understand this – the bottom line is that the government can’t do everything for them. They need to get up to speed in this area too.
There is a huge skills gap when it comes to cyber in this country.
We need to address this shortage if we’re going to have all the tools in our armoury to protect against a threat that is evolving so quickly.
We need to make sure that we are fully equipped to defend ourselves, and our businesses against cyber attacks – state-sponsored or otherwise.
That’s where organisations like Crucial Academy have a real role to play, taking highly-skilled veterans and training them in cyber security free of charge, because we need credible allies in this fight.
Businesses allocate hundreds of thousands of pounds to training budgets to develop their civilian employees in skills such as teamwork, leadership, resilience, and problem-solving. These are the very skills that military veterans have in abundance, and I’ve always thought that it’s a real waste when ex-military talent goes unused.
When I left the military (and every soldier will reach the point where they must make this kind of decision), suddenly I was without a wage. So, I had to get a job working on construction sites, building houses.
I remember getting up at 6am, freezing cold, and laying bricks all day.
While it’s a noble profession, it was hard for me to think about how I had been leading strategic operations with all these skills, but was now shifting bricks.
This is where an organisation like Crucial Academy can help. A former Royal Marine is at the helm, offering free accredited cyber security training to UK armed forces veterans who are transitioning to civilian careers.
The academy is galvanising a massively untapped pool of talent.
People have made serious efforts over the years to try and capture some of the talent which comes out of the military, this is the most positive I’ve seen.
Many companies want to employ veterans, but there is a narrative out there which a lot of us are uncomfortable with. People think that veterans are mad, bad, or broken – and a kind of charity case.
Crucial Academy shows that the truth is the complete opposite.
Veterans come out of the forces with an amazing set of skills that employers don’t have to pay for, because these individuals have already been training for years.
They’re likely to be calm and resilient in stressful situations, and they tend to adhere to a set of moral values that include reliability, honesty, and integrity.
If you couple that with technical skills in cyber security, you are going to get massive value out of these individuals. You are getting someone who has been trained from scratch. It’s a complete no-brainer to me.
It’s great to see a company harnessing this potential, and bringing the narrative on armed forces veterans into 2018. We need more initiatives like this – our national cyber security depends on it.