Tortora Brayda gathers multi-stakeholder Summit to address the rising concern of technology threats where the human talent gap plays a significant role
Tortora Brayda Partnership Excellence, a non-profit international think tank for multi-stakeholder partnership development, recently announced the expert report resulting from their Council Summit on the human talent gap in Cyber Security and Artificial Intelligence.
In the light of the recent cyber security breaches, and the concerns that follow from a national security perspective, the crisis in the human talent gap in cyber security and artificial intelligence must remain at the top of every agenda. Despite many initiatives already undertaken by a variety of organisations, the problem seems to be escalating. Cyber-attacks like the recent Solar Winds event attributed to Russian Intelligence reveal how vulnerable our structures are.
“We must mobilise all our stakeholders”, said Carlo Tortora Brayda, Founder and Chairperson at Tortora Brayda Partnership Excellence. “Today, a world superpower can be brought to submission by rivals because of a lack of investment in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. As of now, the military defense of nations is no longer a matter of stockpiling conventional or nuclear weapons. It must be based on solid, innovative and generally superior AI and Cyber skills, systems and culture- in both the private and public sector. The shortfall in cyber resilience and AI talent, within the United States, and within its talent supply chain, like India, is not only a threat to our economy and competitive advantage, it is a threat to our security and that of our allies, This is not about trends in HR and recruitment. We cannot take this lightly”.
Meeting highlights:
Tortora Brayda Partnership Excellence gathered within this Summit, 30 council members representing the private sector, academia, civil society, government, and discussed solutions that can be brought to close the talent gap in cybersecurity and AI, the role each member or member’s organisation can play in closing the talent gap and what partnership opportunities they foresee emerging from this meeting.
Numerous innovative and robust solutions were identified, with a heavy focus on solutions in academia and through alternative learning paths, outside of degree plans. Exciting and engaging solutions were presented to raise awareness and information among all age groups, where gamification and TV shows were high on the list.
The Council also addressed the subject of diversity and inclusion. highlighting the need to disrupt hiring practices, to include more focus on certifications and technology-specific vendor training, extending deeper to women and minorities.
“We need to demystify the field of Cyber Security,” said MK Palmore, former Head of FBI Cyber Security Branch San Francisco and VP of Field Chief Security Officer at Palo Alto Networks, “Cybersecurity is one of the rare technology arenas that touches everyone. It thrives, as an industry, in any economic environment and forms the backbone of our interactions with one another. It needs to be more inclusive because it is foundational to our reliance on technology”.
Extending vocational training and outreach all the way to high school in a coordinated public private approach was also highlighted as a priority item, as was the need to engage cyber security technology vendors and their implementation channels in a move to foster mentoring and apprenticeship-oriented models.
“We can give people detailed and actionable recommendations for what steps they can take and what skills and credentials they can develop in order to qualify for these jobs and unlock more opportunities in both cybersecurity and AI.”, said Will Markow, Managing Director, Burning Glass Technologies.
