The UK is on the lookout for software developers, and the government is helping by setting up a competition as part of the latest Cyber Security Challenge.
The competition will begin on October 6 but entries open today. The entrants have to be over 16, must not be actively working in security or with credentials in secure software development, and need to have a thorough working knowledge of C/C++, Objective-C and Java.
The not-for-profit Cyber Security Challenge, which “runs national online competitions and raises awareness of cyber learning opportunities and careers”, has allied with defence specialists QinetiQ, who is a platinum sponsor of the Cyber Security Challenge, and (ISC)² to create a series of tests for budding software developers.
In terms of innovative software developer searches, this effort seems to have legs, and was inspired by Stuxnet-esque recent cyber attacks on various infrastructures.
Initially starting as an online challenge requiring entrants to find answers to various security and code-based questions, the outstanding 30 candidates will undertake tests in a computer lab, before they are whittled down to the select few who will work hands-on with QinetiQ.
Part of the reason why the UK is looking for software developers is that security isn’t a major part of any computer science degrees, and that most firms have to extensively train staff on the matter.
There is an evident lookout for a wide variety of software and security-centric developers. Last month, Jonathan Evans, head of MI5, claimed that one company in London had lost £800 million as part of a cyber attack and that MI5 was fighting an “astonishing” barrage of threats.
Similarly, research from (ISC)² in 2011 found that nearly three quarters of IT security professionals (73%) saw software weaknesses as the biggest online worry.
The area of software development is famously one of a not-particularly-long shelf life and difficult employability. It becomes increasingly tough to find work in the field the older one gets, with the oft-cited argument being that younger developers are more attuned to the latest technologies.
Yet of course in many cases, as this study from recruiters Dice.com proved, companies can also be reluctant to hire fresh-out graduate developers for fear of not being entry level. As a result, the gap left for suitable talent is negligible.
So evidently, the various attacks on infrastructure have forced the hand of the Cyber Security Challenge group. But will this raise enough awareness for the role software developers could play in security and software development?
