Allan Paller, an American Digital Defense security pioneer passed away on 9th November, Tuesday. He was 76. The cause of his death is yet to be announced.
He breathed his last at the SANS Institute, founded by him in the late 1980s.
The SANS Institute is the world’s biggest cybersecurity research and training firm. More than 40,000 cybersecurity experts are made by the firm every year.
He was among the first to notice the cybersecurity workforce crisis, how big its impact is going to be. He also highlighted the fact that the number of unfilled cybersecurity vacancies is alarmingly above 3.5 million. Way back in 2014, it was around 1 million. The enormity of the gap disturbed Paller in view of the ever-rising cybersecurity concerns.
He was of the opinion that the future of the country should be anchored on technical expertise to safeguard its digital systems against the ever-rising incidents of cyberattacks.
Paller also believed that unlike some other countries such as Russia, it wouldn’t be easy for the US to tackle this issue abruptly. He noticed how the country lacks a strict constriction policy. His attempts to improve or revive the situation later led to a prolonged battle against cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the US.
He was also a member of former US president Bill Clinton’s ‘National Infrastructure Assurance Council’. During President George.W.Bush’s term, he was awarded a lifetime achievement award in recognition of his contribution towards strengthening federal information technology.
A 2020 New York Times Interview quoted him saying, “Our ability as a nation to maintain our technological leadership depends on building a sufficiently large pipeline of talent beyond the people already going into cyber.”
He studied engineering and computer science at Cornell University. Later, he did a Master of Engineering degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.