Growth & Jobs | Cybersecurity skills drive economic growth – Study

DR DUSTIN E. Fraser of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and a native of Guyana, presented a scholarly study of how cybersecurity can be a driver for economic growth in developing nations.

Fraser, an adjunct professor at the institution, was conferred a Doctor of Business Analytics and Decision Sciences degree on October 1, 2021, by Capitol Technology University in Laurel, Maryland.

The 258-page case study surveyed 20 cybersecurity and IT professionals across 21 economic sectors in Guyana. The purpose was to identify the existing cybersecurity knowledge, skills, and abilities gap in the workforce,

explain the source of the gap, and propose appropriate remediation strategies. The Caribbean was recently identified by the Organization of American States as being among the regions with the largest number of new Internet users, and as a result, cybercrime is a common and crippling problem. This study provides a lens through which regional countries can improve cybersecurity skills to protect critical infrastructure.

The key findings include the need to improve support for cybersecurity education, establish coordination and collaboration between the public and private sectors, improve information-sharing structures, and create an inventory of critical infrastructure assets at a national level.

Dr Fraser proposed a new framework that addresses these concerns by examining national cybersecurity strategy, the current state of cyber workforce (skill set), current cybersecurity challenges, and the current impact of cybercrime on economic sectors.

Born in Georgetown, Guyana, Dr Fraser knows first-hand the challenges of building a better economy in a land with vulnerable critical infrastructure, few educational and training resources, and creating employment opportunities.

“As a youth in Guyana, I was fortunate to obtain a government scholarship to study engineering overseas. This opportunity changed my life and career options. I hope to apply the findings in this study to the betterment of my country, and those with similar challenges in CARICOM,” he said.

Dr Fraser hopes to implement his framework in multiple developing countries. He also hopes to find opportunities to pursue the development of easy-to-access, cost-free, and entry-to-advanced-level cybersecurity educational materials to improve awareness and cyber literacy. His goal is to provide cybersecurity skills development opportunities for the youth throughout Africa, Caribbean, and Latin America, using popular tools such as YouTube. “I enjoy teaching in the Immigrant Retraining Program at Cooper Union, but I have enough energy and time to also pursue my dream of helping developing countries develop a workforce to protect their critical infrastructure,” said

Dr Fraser. “This study was just the first step in what I hope will be a career of implementing simple strategies to protect citizens and governments alike,” he concluded.