It has been widely reported that the UK is massively short of skilled cyber security experts to protect them from attacks. The shortage is so severe that one security expert believes that those with cyber security skills will be able to command a substantial rate.

Eugene Kaspersky, founder of spyware firm Kaspersky Lab recently met with James Brokenshire, the minister for security at the Home Office to discuss the increasing cyber attacks alongside the shortage of skilled experts to fend off these attacks. He believes that the only way to address this shortage is to skill up young people, insisting the government has to do more.

The government have begun to realise that this skill shortage is a big problem and in a bid to encourage young people into cyber security, they are to back plans for an IT Security Contest in schools. In partnership with Cyber Security Challenge UK, the contest hopes to attract young people that may not currently be technically minded.

Reported separately, young people in other parts of the world are using their skills to launch hacking attacks. Most recently, the Syrian Electronic Army have used their skills to launch hacking and phishing attacks on Western Media websites. A member of the SEA told the website vice.com: “We’re all Syrian youths who each have our specialised computer skills, such as hacking and graphic design.”

Attacks like the ones from the SEA are only likely to increase and the UK has to be prepared for these attacks and have the skills in place to react to them and in an ideal scenario, stop them from happening. They need to encourage young people in the UK to protect from these attacks and not be the ones launching the attacks.