>>111273 (OP)
I am not convinced that this absolutely required government involvement. CompTIA, ISC2, and so on, saw an audience of unemployed nerds who have been saturated for their entire lives in the "the future is MUH COMPYOOTAHS" meme, and sold them mountains of worthless certs, making thousands of dollars off some especially unfortunate cases. You passed the test? Congratulations, here's your shiny white plastic card to carry in your wallet as you go back to your minimum-wage job unloading truckloads of lumber at Home Depot. The people who sell the certs saw them coming and they keep on cashing the checks. CHA-CHING!
Likewise, for the past 15+ years huge numbers of phony cybersecurity job postings have been smeared all over the Internet, with no intention ever to hire any applicant. This allows the new IT manager, whose name is Pajeet Patel, to say "Yes saar no qualified cybersecurity peopleses have applied, we need moar H1Bs so that I can hire my wife and my brother-in-law, pls do the needful." What makes this part funny is that the whole reason the field of cybersecurity had to be created is because Pajeet has already stolen all of his employer's passwords and sensitive data and sold them. Pajeet would not have been caught if he'd only sold them once and stayed bought, but he handed over a thumbdrive to anyone who waved a ten-dollar bill under his nose, and was arrested this