DOI: 10.5176/2251-2195_CSEIT18.141
Authors: Tega Ileleji and Anthony Joseph
Abstract: There is a global shortage of cybersecurity professionals that is likely to get worse as more devices are connected to cyberspace as is happening with the Internet of Things. This talent shortage problem is particularly acute in the United States, where there are currently an estimated 301,873 cybersecurity job openings and an unemployment rate between zero and two percent. The global cybersecurity workforce is mainly males, and in the United States it is mostly White and male. A study of high school students' career interest in cybersecurity by means of a survey revealed that regardless of ethnicity and gender the students were interested in cybersecurity, but the group of White and Asian males were more interested in cybersecurity than both White and Asian females and Black and Hispanic males. Moreover, the students were not as interested in a cybersecurity career as they were in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics career. These findings seem to suggest that more needs to be done at the high school level to educate and train students in the principles and practices of cybersecurity as a discipline and vocation.
Keywords:cybersecurity; high school students; career interest; cybercrime; talent shortage
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