Aiming to enhance the current private-public cooperation scheme for discovering/developing information security human resources in the younger generation, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announces this time that it has decided to set up a "Security Camp Consortium" in collaboration between the Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan (IPA) and private enterprises.

METI and IPA have been holding camp-style lecture sessions "Security Camps"* to discover/develop IT human resources by providing opportunities in which students younger than age 22 will learn advanced security technologies from engineers playing active roles on the front lines in the industry.

With recent rapid changes in usage of information and communication technologies as well as significant changes in information security due to increasingly complicated/advanced cyber attacks, we have an increased need to foster highly competent information security human resources capable of addressing such changes.

In this context, to further encourage discovering/developing security human resources in the younger generation, METI will push ahead with this project in collaboration with private enterprises. This time, IPA and private enterprises that agree with the purpose of this project will set up a "Security Camp Consortium" (the "Consortium").

* The camp was called the "Security and Programming Camp" from 2008 to 2011.
For more information, see http://www.ipa.go.jp/jinzai/renkei/spcamp2011/index.html. (in Japanese)

The Consortium's purpose is to discover young security human resources under public-private cooperation by inviting lecturers from front-line engineers from corporations in a wide variety of industrial sectors. The Consortium aims to expand young security human resources and develop human resources capable of playing active roles in the international arena by:

• Expanding opportunities to give instructions on the latest know-how or practical knowledge; and
• Discovering highly capable young human resources in local communities through lecture sessions.

February 20, 2012

Information Service Industry Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau