Goals for Computer Security Education

Abstract : Until recently, most of those involved in research, development and operation of secure computing systems have been either autodidacts or individually mentored by people already working in the field. Today's practitioners learned computer security as it was growing up around them. Security concerns have created an increased demand for computer security professionals. Students want to learn about computer security and potential employers want graduates who can go to work solving their problems. We, the members of the computer security community, must be responsible for producing the next generation of computer security experts. The objective of this panel is to present and discuss the opinions of people who hire computer science graduates to work on computer security problems. Thus, the panel seeks not to have computer security educators tell the audience what they are teaching, but to have employers tell us what needs to be taught.