“This entire region is going to see exponential growth like it has never seen before,” said Scott, who is the executive director of SC Cyber. “We all know that for the last 50 years or so, the Savannah River Site has been anchor for the community and community development as an economic engine. We fully expect that cyber will be that economic engine for the next 50 years.”
Launched in 2016, SC Cyber is a statewide initiative based at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. According to its website, SC Cyber’s mission is “to develop the talent, techniques and tools to defend critical, connected infrastructures within South Carolina and the United States.”
Scott said a top priority for SC Cyber is to create a “workforce ecosystem” in Aiken and Edgefield counties that will provide residents with the training needed to fill jobs in the cybersecurity industry.
That involves working closely with Dr. Sean Alford of the Aiken County Public School District, Dr. Forest Mahan of Aiken Technical College and Dr. Sandra Jordan of USC Aiken to build an “education pipeline,” Scott said.
In Augusta, the Georgia Technology Authority is overseeing the construction of the Hull McKnight Georgia Cyber Center for Innovation and Training. The project has a budget of more than $100 million.
Answering a question from the audience about job salaries, Scott said the average per year for information technology positions is $70,000.
In the cybersecurity sector, the average for jobs related to the protection of data and privacy is $85,000. “There a negative unemployment rate,” Scott said. “There are more jobs out there than there are people to fill them. The average starting salary is $60,000 to $70,000. These are career paths that should definitely be looked at.”
In South Carolina, the average salary for workers in all fields is $34,000, Scott said.
SC Cyber has an office in North Augusta at the Municipal Building on Georgia Avenue.
“We are in the process of hiring someone to work there,” Scott said. “Fifty percent of the job will be community engagement, and 50 percent will be serving as my workforce development lead for the entire state.”
October is National Cyber Security Awareness month, and on Oct. 2, SC Cyber plans to hold a Cyber Day celebration in North Augusta.
Scott said he recently hired an economics professor from the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business to do a study that will provide more detailed information about the economic impact of the Army’s new Cyber Command headquarters and the cybersecurity industry in the Palmetto State.
On Cyber Day, “we hope to be able to provide the results of that report,” Scott said.
©2018 the Aiken Standard (Aiken, S.C.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
