Letters to the editor

Following are responses to an FCW.com poll question that asked: "Do you think federal IT workers should be required to earn a systems security certification?"

As an information technology professional who is responsible for certain security tasks, I find it very frustrating when discussing security issues with other IT professionals and watching their eyes glaze over as if the subject is too complex to comprehend. The issue of security is not complex.

By putting all IT workers through, at minimum, some sort of essential security training and requiring a certification, organizations could become that much more competent and the efforts put forth by security specialists could be made more effective.

Name withheld by request

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Security is every federal employee's business and it starts with IT positions. The first level of information assurance training should be required within the first six months of employment for any IT position.

Name withheld by request