§7441 Cybersecurity competitions and challenges

Summary

The Secretary of Commerce, the Director of the National Science Foundation, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, working with the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, must run and support cybersecurity contests and challenges under existing law. The contests must find, train, and recruit people to protect information technology in Federal, State, local, tribal, and private organizations. They must also encourage basic and applied cybersecurity research, technology development, and prototype demos that could help Federal IT systems. The agencies must make sure the contests work well. People who can enter include high school students (grades 9 through 12), college undergraduates, post-baccalaureate students, colleges and research institutions, veterans, and other groups the agencies pick. The contests can be run with federal partners, regional or school programs, State/local/tribal governments, or private groups. Recruiting contests must focus on eight areas, including ethical hacking, penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, security by design, keeping systems running, cyber forensics, and offensive and defensive cyber work. The agencies must ask many people both inside and outside government when picking topics and may form advisory committees. The Office of Personnel Management may offer internships or other federal work experience to contest winners.