advertisement
Facebook
X
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Reddit

Government lays out plan to address SA’s cybersecurity skills shortage

Earlier this week while addressing the CEO Forum for Cybersecurity, Deputy Minister of Communications, Pinky Kekana, said that government has a long-term vision to partly address the cybersecurity skills shortage in the country.

According to SA News, the Deputy Minister said that in the not too distant future, South Africa will have formal education qualifications ranging from diplomas for school leavers at NQF 5 to graduate and postgraduate degrees.

This with the intention of working closely with Sector Education and Training (SETA), and in particular the Reserve Bank, Media, Information and Communication Technologies (MICT) and the Safety and Security Education and Training Authority (SASSETA), Kekana noted.

“The initiative entails the development of roles and responsibilities for the cybersecurity sector through the identification of Organisational Framework for Occupations (OFO) codes. This OFO will set the base for linking various occupations to specific skills and will assist in identifying further training needs. The next step would be to then engage private service providers to develop cybersecurity training programmes,” explained Kekana.

The Deputy Minister added that to professionalise this industry a framework has been developed consisting of various job descriptions that will provide a spectrum of careers necessary to build a credible industry.

She further noted that it would be impossible to implement a Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill without a fully capable cyber force. The Bill is currently before Parliament and will bring South Africa in line with international laws dealing with cybercrime.

“These job descriptions will be accompanied by educational requirements that will ensure the candidate has the level of expertise necessary to fulfil the responsibilities assigned to the job,” concluded Kekana.

[Source – SA News]
[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]

advertisement

About Author

advertisement

Related News

advertisement