The following study, by a PRC government cybersecurity center, analyzes the structure of China’s complement of cybersecurity and IT security professionals. The study finds that PRC cybersecurity practitioners are still too few in number and are often burdened with non-security-related IT tasks, although China is making progress solving these problems. The authors recommend that all Party leaders take courses on cybersecurity to raise awareness of the importance of the topic.

The Chinese source text is available online at:
https://web.archive.org/web/20201007121055/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.itsec.gov.cn%2Fzxxw%2F201909%2FP020190906557330247920.pdf

US $1 ≈ 7 Chinese Yuan Renminbi (RMB), as of December 14, 2020.

1. Overview

Cyberspace competition is, in the final analysis, a talent competition. As the new science and technology (S&T) revolution continues and industries upgrade, information technology is fundamentally changing the way people live and shaping new patterns of economic and social development and national security. Information security talent will play a critical role in this process of transformative development. Given the challenges and opportunities of this new era, the question of whether it is possible to effectively promote the development of information security talent will become an issue of paramount importance in implementing the cyber powerhouse¹ strategy. It will also be critical to gaining the initiative in a setting of increasing international competition.

Since the 18th Party Congress [in 2012], the state has taken a series of important actions concerning the development of cybersecurity talent. It has introduced several powerful measures which have achieved successes that are obvious to all. Breakthrough progress has been made in establishing cybersecurity curricula, specializations, academic departments, and degree-granting programs. Cybersecurity has progressed rapidly in the areas of on-the-job training and professional certification testing. Cybersecurity attack-and-defense training exercises and skill competitions have seen vigorous growth. Cybersecurity talent and innovation bases have been planned and built in multiple locations, and have introduced policies for talent cultivation and recruitment. Important industries are strictly implementing cybersecurity responsibility systems and personnel compliance requirements while accelerating implementation of security personnel training and management regimes. The departments concerned launched in-depth propaganda and education efforts, significantly heightening cybersecurity consciousness throughout society.

China is currently presented with a major strategic opportunity to develop information security talent. In-depth research is necessary now and for a while into the future to track the current status of information security practitioner teams, to explore the growth patterns of information security talent, and to analyze problems present at the deeper levels of the effort to build talent teams. This “Research Report on the Status of China’s Information Security Professionals (2018-2019)” is a major investigative activity sponsored by the China Information Technology Security Evaluation Center and contracted out to the Information Security Industry Branch of the China Information Industry Trade Association. This report, which employed such approaches as online questionnaire surveys, front-line on-site interviews, and consultations and discussions with experts, entailed an in-depth investigation according to six major dimensions into the current status of information security professionals and the current talent environment in the expectation of providing practical guidance for security industry talent work innovation development and of providing a decision-making reference for building cyber and information security talent teams in China.

1. Translator’s note: The Chinese word 强国, literally “strong nation,” is translated as “powerhouse” throughout this translation. An acceptable alternate translation for the term 网络强国—rendered here as “cyber powerhouse”—is “cyber superpower.” For a detailed discussion of this term, see: https://www.newamerica.org/cybersecurity-initiative/digichina/blog/lexicon-wangluo-qiangguo/