DARPA's Hackerspaces

Friday the New York Times published an article outlining one of DARPA’s latest research grants, money to finance “Hackerspace” programs at local schools in California. These security research programs provide an outlet for students to experiment and practice their cyber security skills, in what O’Leary deems a “shop class for the 21^st” century. While these types of programs are an excellent development for the computer technology realm, some have concerns about the underlying motivations that come with DARPA money.

Personally I believe this news of government funded security research is great news, for several reasons. DARPA funds several other edge projects, not just IT related fields. To associate these government funded programs with military co-op is rather paranoid and unfounded. Of course this bias is often associated with the New York Times, a very liberal and anti-military news organization. The government has historically fallen behind with adopting new technologies; often outsourcing IT related needs to private entities. By investing some money in the young minds most familiar with the fast paced technology realm, the government can glean information and innovations to be applied across the nation.

High school IT training is also either nonexistent or ineffective for most schools. By introducing some advanced research, DARPA leads the way in schools to introduce some better IT classes, and promote interest in more students. Students who are familiar with modern information security threats are also more knowledgeable in basic IT and programming techniques, learning best practices before they even get to a university or college.

I would like to see more of a government initiative in cyber security research. After all, the United States opened the court for cyber warfare and malware use with Stuxnet, we should be better prepared for retaliation and implementation going forward.

O'Leary, A. (2012, October 5). Worries Over Defense Department Money for ‘Hackerspaces’. Retrieved from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/06/us/worries-over-defense-dept-money-for-hackerspaces.html?hpw&_r=0

[ams]