The federal government is in great need of first-class cybersecurity talent, and one pipeline has been the Scholarship for Service program run by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Homeland Security. The program, often called the cyber corps, provides scholarships to students who specialize in information technology education in return for agreeing to work in the federal government for two years.

The scholarship covers tuition, room and board and books. Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, told Government Computer News that many federal agencies lack cybersecurity pros, and this program helps fill this need.

"We probably have only 1,000 of those people in the whole country, and we need between 10,000 and 30,000 in the next couple of years," he said.

Mischel Kwon, director of the Homeland Security Department's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, said the government definitely needs top-notch security talent to confront growing challenges. She said the scholarship program is an important means of getting tech-savvy employees who understand security operations.

For more on the pressing need for new IT talent:
- check out this Government Computer News article