Any determined, smart person, given enough time, talent and effort, can attack just about any computer that is tied to the Web today. More and more people are trying it or the existing cadre of cybersnoops is getting better. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that government and private computer networks were breached 37,000 times during fiscal 2007, compared with 24,000 break-ins the previous year; attacks on federal computer systems more than doubled in 2007. How many of us have had to get a new credit card because someone has stolen our card data? There have been so many breaches of company networks that the stories are buried on page 17 of the newspaper; they are no longer top news.
Yet, we don't have very many people entering the field. We produce 50 - 60 computer security doctorates in this country every year and more than half of them go back to their home country. I'm not saying that only those with Phds in computer security can produce the next generation of secure networks. Many of the major advances in computer technology have been made by people without advanced degrees and by people without degrees. I am saying, as I have for quite a while, we need to do something about the small number of students involed with the sciences.
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