South Carolina announced last week that it would undertake an inventory of its “cyber assets” as the first step to optimize its cybersecurity and privacy policy and economic development programs.
The asset inventory – a catalog of the supply and demand of cybersecurity talent, skill shortages, and needs for growth – can be used to configure education programs across the state to better suit the needs of economic stability and growth.
“We want to find the gaps to know, how do you integrate the statewide cyber ecosystem? How do you strengthen the technical capability and capacity? And then how do we compete in cyber assets that become an economic driver for our state?” said Bill Kirkland, executive director of University of South Carolina’s Office of Innovation, Partnerships, and Economic Engagement, who is heading up efforts to develop a strategy.
“The inventory will show us what skills are needed. What’s missing. Watch the true workforce development opportunity, going forward. And then of course we would say that we modify our curriculum or build certificate programs.”
South Carolina becomes the latest region to invest in cybersecurity capacity as foundational to grow its economy. The city of Sacramento, California, for example, used its COVID-19 funding to turn laid-off workers into cyber experts. More recently, the greater region of Pensacola launched an advertising and incentive campaign designed to lure top cyber talent away from Silicon Valley and other major tech hubs to the Florida Panhandle.
The South Carolina initiative, however, is a coordinated effort across state government, multiple state universities, local industry, and critical infrastruct ..
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