I recently attended an information security meetup and one of the main topics was building up security resources on a state/local government budget. This is not an easy task, but is something many people are facing.

When recruiting on a budget, it seems best to determine what makes a good security analyst. You are likely not going to be able to hire anyone with serious infosec training, so you need to look for raw talent. Much has been written about this, but here are the major qualities I look for.

1. Strong experience in two or more of the following:

   1. Coding/Scripting

   2. Network Management

   3. Server Administration (Windows and Linux)

   4. Management of Core Services (DNS,Mail, DBA, ect..)

2. Hungry to learn anything and independent learner

3. Task oriented

4. Wants a deeper understanding how attacks/defense work

Once you have picked a successful candidate, you'll need to setup a successful path for them. SANS has a a great layout for classes for what career path they should take (hxxp://www.sans.org/media/security-training/roadmap.pdf).

For full time handlers, in a large complex environment, it seems to take 18 to 24 months to get comfortable with most incidents. In smaller more controlled environments, this may be a lot shorter.

Please post in the comments about your experiences building talent and how long to get them self sufficient.

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Tom Webb