A new report by Brainbench, which provides professional online certifications and employment assessments, claims "critical cyber defense" skills in network security and disaster recovery and planning are lagging in the United States. Called the Brainbench Cyber Defense IQ Report, the data was gatehred from the company's database of more than 4.7 million online tests and certifications, the largest repository of its kind in the world.

The analysis of the Chantilly, Va.-based Brainbench database of online tests and certifications taken in the last 12 months shows there are only 111 certified Disaster Recovery & Planning experts, 221 certified Network Security specialists, and 640 certified Wide Area Networking specialists nationwide.

Despite the low numbers in these areas, Internet Security appears to be a strength, with 4,098 certified professionals, as well as TCP/IP Administration, with 4,258 certified U.S. professionals, providing the nation with bench strength in these key areas.

"September 11th has reprioritized the importance of technology skills in the U.S., with many organizations putting an increased emphasis on technology areas that had little visibility a year ago. Just last month, the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) called publicly for a strengthening of the nation's cyber defense within government and the private sector," said Mike Russiello, president and chief executive officer of Brainbench.

According to the chairman of AFCOM's Data Center Institute, Leonard Eckhaus, "The Brainbench findings regarding disaster recovery and planning are especially relevant in light of a survey conducted recently by the Data Center Institute (DCI) among more than 3,100 of the nation's largest data centers. We found that only slightly over half of the respondents had reviewed their disaster recovery and data backup procedures in the wake of the September 11th attacks. What the Brainbench survey suggests is that one of the reasons more organizations have not reviewed their disaster recovery procedures is that there is a relatively small number of certified disaster recovery professionals across the nation."

The DCI was formed in 2000 by AFCOM, a membership organization for enterprise data center managers, is composed of leading enterprise vendors and senior data center managers, including Allen Systems Group, BMC Software, Computer Associates, Cooper Tools, Cybermation, Diversified Software, Imation, Landmark Systems Corp., Navy Federal Credit Union, StorageTek and the Western Area Power Administration.

Brainbench provides professional online certifications and employment assessments in information technology, finance, sales, administration, healthcare and other categories. They possess the largest ISO 9001 certified library of exams in the world today. Corporate customers include Autodesk, IBM, EDS, Ernst & Young, Element K, PeopleSoft, kforce.com, Manpower Professional, and Booz Allen & Hamilton. Major investors include Manpower, Thomson Learning, Terra Lycos and Primus Venture Partners.

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