China faces a deficit of cybersecurity specialists

Almaty. December 14. Silkroadnews - China faces a deficit of cybersecurity specialists, China Daily reported.
“The training of cybersecurity talent is an urgent and important task for China's internet development. Cybersecurity talent is in short supply, “which presents us with a great challenge in preventing online attacks,” said Zhao Zeliang, director of cybersecurity coordination for the Cyberspace Administration of China,” the report reads.
In his opinion, China can reach the level of cybersecurity of Western countries, buying their products and technologies.
“But if our talent is insufficient, or we are unable to train talent, our internet development will face difficulties,” Zhao said.
According to him, there are more than 751 million users of net in the country, and about 8000 cybersecurity specialists graduate from universities annually. And although the number of students enrolled in this specialty has grown since 2015, the talent gap is still large.
Reportedly cybersecurity education bases are also being established ay the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunication, Shanghai Jiaotong University and Sichuan University.
“Meanwhile, the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team and Coordination Center of China also encourages "white hats" - hackers who help companies identify security risks - by giving them rewards,” the report reads.
“The move kills two birds with one stone. People with hacking skills can play a role in prevention, while we can learn about security problems at the same time,” the agency quoted Li Jia, deputy director of the operations department of the center.
This approach, as noted, also allows to guide the hackers “on the right path”, providing them with legitimate jobs.