A Raytheon NCSA global survey found a growing gap between U.S. men and women who say they would consider a career in cybersecurity.

The survey further revealed a low number of young adults reporting interest in the field, with a growing number of women saying they don't see a future in the career. Jack Harrington, vice president of cybersecurity and special missions for Raytheon's Intelligence, Information and Services business, says the lack of interest could mean trouble for national security operations, where cybersecurity is seen as increasingly important.

"There will be serious implications for the world's security, safety and economic stability if we don't figure out how to foster a cybersecurity workforce capable of protecting our information from increasingly harmful cyber threats," Harrington said in a statement.

"We have our work cut out for us to encourage young adults to pursue this profession and to address the widening gender gap – particularly here in the U.S."

The study was sponsored by both the National Cyber Security Alliance and Raytheon, one of the world's largest defense contractors, as part of The U.S. Department of Security's National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Data was collected by Zogby Analytics, and surveyed almost 4,000 young adults between the age of 18 and 26.

Officials say the results suggest women face more disadvantages in the career's networking opportunities, as men were twice as likely to have spoken with a cybersecurity professional.

U.S. Air Force awards ViaSat, Inc. Mini Crypto contract
Washington (UPI) Oct 27, 2015 –

The U.S. Air Force has awarded ViaSat Inc. with a $13,152,398 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for Mini Crypto, the Department of Defense announced on Monday.

Mini Crypto is a small cryptographic module that can be embedded in many communication devices. The module can be used to protect data and authenticate users of communication devices.

Mini Crypto is small, low power, and self-contained. Under the contract, ViaSat will be tasked for both engineering and manufacturing the module, with options for low-rate and full-rate production, and related support fuctions.

Air Force officials voiced the need for such devices in 2014, issuing a request for proposals for the Mini Crypto program in April 2014.

"Without a cryptographic solution in these tactical devices, communications may become increasingly vulnerable to compromise and exploitation," the request read. "Additionally, analysis showed an embeddable solution does not exist to address the full set of security needs."

Work on the Mini Crypto will be performed in California, and is expected to be completed by October 2020.