Youth training to combat cyber threat
ISRAEL invested in its long-term aim of bolstering the country’s cyber-security last week, launching a state program to train teenagers for the sector.
ISRAEL invested in its long-term aim of bolstering the country’s cyber-security last week, launching a state program to train teenagers for the sector.
Ashkelon Academic College will become a centre of excellence for the subject, training hundreds of youngsters aged 16-18 every year. “This program is an example of the actions that we are advancing in the field of cybernetics in order to develop the high-quality human capital in the State of Israel,” said Israel National Cyber Bureau head Eviatar Matania at the opening ceremony.
He stressed that advances in the field will benefit Israel and also prove ripe for export. He said: “We realise that many elements in the world are interested in Israeli minds in the field of cybernetics, as well as in how they are developed. We must improve methods of operation and it is our intention to do so.”
The program, which completed a two-year pilot before becoming an official government course last week, has a social as well as a defence mission. It is intentionally run in Ashkelon, part of Israel’s “periphery” – the term used to describe socio-economically disadvantaged areas in the country’s south and north.
“We see it as a method to make the periphery stronger than it is today – if smart and able kids from the periphery get involved in this sector they will get better salaries and help raise standard of living in the south and the north of the country,” Netzach Farbiash, a senior official in the Rashi foundation educational charity that is involved in running the program, told The AJN.
The other bodies supporting the programme are the Israel Defence Forces, the security services, the State Lottery and the Education Ministry.
NATHAN JEFFAY
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