www.vanguardcanada.com DECEMBER 2018/JANUARY 2019 45
tHe Last WORD
By kAtherine thoMpson
Recruiting the next generation cyber warrior
there is a common
analogy shared within
the defence and
security communities
which states "the great
battles of the future will
be fought online."
I
f recent events are any indication,
this prediction is already becoming
standard practice by many countries
to sway things like the electoral pro-
cess and disruptions in government
and critical infrastructure.
In planning for the future and how to
attract and retain talent for cyber related
roles within the military, many senior
leaders are faced with having to develop
a much different approach to recruitment
to meet the future requirements. The spe-
cific skills and training of the 'cyber war-
rior' demand a departure from traditional
recruiting practices and a more aligned
and online approach to making a career
in military service appealing in the future.
And the conversation needs to start a very
young age because many industry sectors
will be competing for the skills, expertise
and mind space of the future cyber profes-
sional.
In Israel, Unit 8200 is the elite cyber
security spy agency responsible for the
innovation and defence efforts of the Is-
raeli government. This unit has trained
and incubated expertise that went on to
launch companies such as Checkpoint and
Palo Alto. They have also created a very
unique (and somewhat secretive) screen-
ing program that is used to identify tal-
ented young people under the premise of
aptitude to learn new technologies more
so than technical knowledge. Now I un-
derstand that this isn't a straightforward
comparison–seeing that Israel requires all
citizens to fulfill mandatory military ser-
vice requirements–but it is an example of
how young candidates are screened for fu-
ture potential.
We have been working on a similar
screening tool that not only identifies
those with the required aptitudes, but
also measures current level of cyber secu-
GuARDIAnS
of the futuRe
