ALL comp-sci courses will have compulsory infosec lessons – UK.gov

Cyber-security will appear on the UK curriculum from next year in a bid to get more kids into the industry, the government has announced.

The topic will be a key part of UK computing and digital further education qualifications from September 2016, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said today.

Its inclusion is part of a number of measures designed to boost the £6bn industry, which the government reckons is set to grow "significantly" over the coming years.

Maude said: "We need a supply of cyber-security experts for the future, so we are taking a series of further steps to attract the most gifted young people to this fast-moving area of technology."

GCHQ's information security arm, the CESG, has previously warned that one of the UK’s "most pressing problems is the lack of emerging talent to defend the UK online".

In a statement, the agency said: "We desperately need more skilled people in the cyber-security profession both now and for the future."

Other measures unveiled today include new "cyber-specialist" apprenticeships from autumn 2015, to train young people to become cyber-intrusion analysts, monitoring and defending organisations from attack in security operations centres.

Cyber-security will also become a mandatory element of all undergraduate courses accredited by the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

The proposals come under the government's £860m National Cyber Security Programme.

However, spending watchdog the National Audit Office has said the programme has yet to deliver the promised economic benefits. ®