[LINK] Education system doesn't support NBN: Caelli

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

Education system doesn't support NBN: Caelli
Karen Dearne
Australian IT
May 17, 2011
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/education-system-doesnt-support-nbn-caelli/story-e6frgakx-1226057628313

AUSTRALIA is not equipped to deal with the National Broadband Network 
due to past "dumbing down" of IT education and resulting lack of trained 
professionals, security expert Bill Caelli warns.

"There is a crisis in network education that needs to be addressed now," 
he told an Australian Computer Society session at the AusCERT conference 
on the Gold Coast.

"The security of the nation depends on network security because today, 
everything is networked.

"But our universities are no longer turning out qualified people. Staff 
in IT faculties have been retrenched, and in many cases network 
management and network technology courses have been discontinued.

"The federal and state governments have got to recognise that this is a 
crisis," the Queensland University of Technology IT security expert said.

Professor Caelli, a senior information assurance consultant with 
International Information Security Consultants, said there was no time 
to waste as Australia moves to implement the National Broadband Network.

"Where are the people who are capable of administering, managing and 
securing the NBN going to come from?" he asked.

"Education is a five-year investment, which means we should now be 
aiming to have trained professionals graduating in 2018, when the 
switched network is supposed to be turned off.

"Networks have to be managed locally, so if we don't have the 
capabilities in this country, we will have to import people."

Professor Caelli said the criticality of the situation was demonstrated 
by the OECD, which two years ago reported that more than 50 per cent of 
the GDP of modern western countries was dependent on networked IT systems.

"From an IT perspective, Australia is a colony; the IT empires are all 
in the northern hemisphere," he said. "The point is, IT colonies need a 
capacity to judge what systems to import, and what's being used to build 
local systems.

"Now, all I'm hearing from the NBN types is applications, applications, 
applications.

"I'm saying, 'Hey guys, applications are great, but when the power goes 
off, it all stops'.

"What about all the important infrastructures that require a deep 
engineering understanding of the technologies we're deploying? What 
about the impact of Internet Protocol version 6?

"Without those things, it's like saying here's a car, we've soldered 
down the bonnet, you have no idea how it works but trust us, just get in 
and drive."

Professor Caelli urged the ACS to take a leading role in focusing 
government attention on the need to boost tertiary teaching resources.

"We need to increase training not just in network security in our 
universities, but network systems overall," he said. "One major 
university, for example, has one lecturer in network systems, and his 
backup is someone from the IT services section. The laboratory consists 
of hand-me down PCs.

"At the Queensland University of Technology, the whole IT faculty was 
absorbed into science and technology.

"I wonder how many universities still offer a really solid network 
systems program - but, hey, you can get wonderful degrees in things like 
games development."

If the nation recognised its reliance on network security for more than 
50 per cent of its GDP, then "perhaps we should consider deferring the 
purchase of one F35A fighter", he said.

"Because, what's the current risk assessment? It's not using our fighter 
to bomb somebody - the real attack vectors now are through our networks."

Karen Dearne is attending AusCERT 2011 on the Gold Coast as a guest of 
AusCERT

-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
email:	brd at iimetro.com.au
website:	www.drbrd.com



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