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"If you appear to be spending your holiday unsuccessfully
attempting to separate your children from Wi-Fi or their digital
devices, do not despair," Robert Hannigan, a former director of
the Government Communications Headquarters, wrote in the British
newspaper The Telegraph.
"Your poor parenting may be helping them and saving the
country."
Hannigan, who left GCHQ at the start of this year, said parents
are often scared of the virtual world because they don't
understand it as their kids do.
"We need young people to explore this digital world just as they
explore the physical world," he said, adding Britain is
"desperately short" of cyber skills. "The baseline of
understanding is too low and often behind our competitors."
Britain's parliament and National Health Service have been hit
by cyber attacks in recent months, leaving lawmakers, their
aides and hospitals locked out of their computer systems full of
sensitive information.
In a report published in January, the job site Indeed said
Britain has the second worst cyber security skill shortage in
the world, with interest in jobs hitting less than a third of
employer demand.
In February, the government opened the National Cyber Security
Centre - part of GCHQ - to help plug that gap.
Hannigan said it's not too late for parents to get involved too.
He suggested they buy a Raspberry Pi, a small computer designed
to help young people learn programming skills, and build it with
their children.
"Leave aside your fears of being a nerd: that would be a problem
to be proud of," he said.
(Reporting by Emma Rumney, editing by Larry King)
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