Hello Readers,

I wanted to touch on the topic of cybercrime today.  As you know just by reading the news today, cyberthreats and cyberattacks are all too common today.  These criminal activities require a lot of time, expense and effort to detect and thwart.  Anyone with a website, database or "always on" Internet connection is a potential target for organized crime and foreign government attacks on computers and networks.

Just this past week, it was revealed that the Chinese government likely hacked into US government computers looking for names of dissidents.  Here is a link to one of several articles on this topic.  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004470526_apchinahacking.html

This is just one of hundreds or thousands of attacks that occur daily against various institutions, both public and private.  Financial institutions and retailers are another big target because of the vast amounts of personal and financial information that these companies collect and maintain.

Then you have all the issues around the issues of youth Internet safety.  WTIA has been a member of the Attorney General's Youth Internet Safety task force, which I have reported on in previous posts.  The goal of this group is to increase awareness of youth Internet safety, improve the education of kids, parents, teachers and the public on Internet safety and develop new resources for law enforcement to help combat the online predators, bullies and scam artists.

One of law enforcement's bigget challenges is finding computer forensic experts with the skills necessary to investigate cybrcrimes of all types.  In fact, one of the top ten jobs in the next few years paying over $50K per year will be computer forensic professional.

I am always hearing from WTIA members and others in the tech industry about how difficult it is to find people with the right technical and business skills for key jobs.  WTIA lobbies hard for increases in STEM degree production from the state's colleges and universities and for improvements in K-12 math and science requirements.  Now we have the law enforcement angle to add to that.  The opportunity is that if we can get young people aware of this issue and the future employment that computer forensics presents, it might get students interested in math and science.

Washington State University and Bellevue Community are stepping up to the challenge.  WSU is developing  a degree program in cybercriminology.  BCC is forming an Institute for the Study of Cybercriminology.  BCC hosted a meeting yesterday on it campus to discuss.  It was a very knowledgeable group across business, academia, local and state law enforcement agencies and other experts in Internet safety.

There are wide gaps in awareness of the cybercrime/Internet safety problems, limited edcuation in this field, lack of knowledge of what cybercriminals and online predators are doing and inadequate supply of professionals in this field along with a paucity of research.

Dr. Gita Bangera, a BCC faculty member is heading up this new Institute.  It is just getting off the ground but shows great promise as a center for dealing with cybercrime.  If you are inteested in learning more or getting involved, please contact Dr. Bangera at gbangera@bcc.ctc.edu or myself at Lmcmurran@washingtontechnology.org.  WTIA will also stay involved in the youth internet safety aspect of this issue.  We are encouraged with the progress being made, particularly in the K-12 system.  Although currently fragmented, the awareness and desire for good information is getting into the schools. 

A step forward is OSPI's development of technology "Essential Academic Learning Requirements" or EALRs.  The requirements for student learning are under delevelopment and will include internet safety.  This means that our students will start to get age and grade appropriate material taught in the next few years.

Computer and information security is critical for business, education and government.  The explosion of personal and financial data that exists on networks and the Internet is simply too tempting a target for cybercriminals.  Security cannot be something that is done after the fact or in response to a threat.  It has to be part and parcel of any entity's business planning.  The risks are simply too great not to.