DHS publishes list of knowledge, skills required to thwart cyberattacks

DHS has published a draft of a framework of knowledge and skills it believes the United States needs to prevent cyberattacks. Development of the “IT Security Essential Body of Knowledge” (EBK) began in 2003, when DHS National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) began working with the Defense Department, academia, and private industry to examine workforce IT certifications and what would be needed to advance security skills. Starting with the DOD’s “Information Assurance Skill Standards” document, which had goals which were close to those for the national workforce, the NCSD development team isolated what it considered the core IT security competencies. FCW’s Brian Robison writes that NCSD then compared those with other domain-based IT security models to come up with a list of fourteen key competencies to cover all public and private security roles and functions.

The EBK contains the key terms and concepts from all of those competencies that NCSD officials feel individuals in at least some IT security roles should know. The EBK is not an additional set of guidelines that DHS believes organizations should follow, said Greg Garcia, DHS’ assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications, in comments included with the recent Federal Register announcement of the EBK draft. It is also not intended to represent a directive from DHS, he said. The intent is for the document it “to help advance the IT security training and certification landscape as we strive to ensure that we have the most qualified and appropriately trained IT security workforce possible,” he said.

The public can comment on EBK through the Federal Register notice. Those comments will build on initial reviews by working groups and role-based focus groups prior to the document’s final publication.

The deadline for those comments is Dec. 7.