Outgoing WH official calls for US to bolster cybersecurity workforce by hiring non-degree holders

The White House’s outgoing cyber czar, Harry Coker, called for three key things to meet the growing threat of digital attacks: more funding, deregulation and opening up cyber jobs to those without college degrees.As adversaries like Iran, China and Russia lob near-constant attacks on the US digital infrastructure, “we have to prioritize cybersecurity within federal budgets” President Joe Biden’s national cyber director said at an event with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, DC.“I would love for the incoming administration, or any administration, to recognize the priority of cybersecurity,” Coker said.He added that he understands the US is in a “tough budget situation.”“I get that, and I support making progress towards reducing the deficit, but we have to prioritize cybersecurity within our current budgets,” he said.At the same time, the Biden appointee railed against “duplicative federal regulation” and said he’d heard from those working to protect the nation’s online infrastructure that they spend “a staggering 30 to 50%” of their time working to comply with regulation, rather than ensuring protection from hacks.“Armed with the industry’s call to streamline, we worked with Congress to write bipartisan legislation that would bring all stakeholders, including independent regulators, to the table to advance the regulatory harmonization,” he went on.“Many of us were disappointed that this has not become law yet, but we have laid the groundwork for the next administration in Congress to do the right thing for our partners in the private sector.”His urging comes as the US is grappling with the fallout of one of China’s biggest attacks on American infrastructure in history, dubbed Salt Typhoon. A Chinese intelligence group infiltrated nine US telecommunications giants and gained access to the private text messages and phone calls of Americans, including senior government officials and prominent pol...