National/World News:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Biden Administration Continues National Cyber Workforce Education Roadshow in Chicago, Announces Commitments to Build America’s Cyber Workforce Especially Among Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities.
The CyberSkills2Work initiative, a nationally scalable program based at the University of West Florida and supported by a coalition of 10 National Centers of Academic Excellence-designated higher ed institutions across the country (ENMU-Ruidoso and its Cybersecurity Center of Excellence is one of the 10 institutions), commits to adding 1,520 cybersecurity professionals to the nation’s cyber workforce over the next two years. The program also commits to expanding its support from active duty and transitioning military personnel to first responders, military spouses, women, underrepresented minorities, and government personnel. The program will offer 22 additional training pathways that prepare learners for 16 cybersecurity work roles and 17 industry certifications. A $2.5 million NSA expansion grant funds this effort. To learn more about CyberSkills2Work check out this link: cyberskills2work.org
UWF Center for Cybersecurity awarded $2.5 million expansion grant, highlighted by White House in national strategy, roundtable event
Aug. 08, 2023
Updated September 25, 2023
The University of West Florida Center for Cybersecurity received a $2.5 million grant from the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (NCAE-C) Program at the National Security Agency to expand the National Cybersecurity Workforce Development program, CyberSkills2Work. UWF was also invited by the White House to attend an intimate round table discussion on national cybersecurity education, where UWF’s CyberSkills2Work was highlighted. UWF leads a coalition of 10 NCAE-C designated institutions to address the critical national shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals in the U.S.
CyberSkills2Work focuses on recruiting, preparing, and placing transitioning military and first responders into cybersecurity work roles in critical infrastructure sectors, including financial services, defense industrial base and energy sectors. The cybersecurity workforce shortage tops 663,000 nationwide according to CyberSeek, a comprehensive cybersecurity workforce analytics website. Florida is among the states with the greatest number of cyber job openings with more than 34,000 unfilled positions; only Texas and California have more. Industry, government and nonprofit partners have worked closely with the coalition to align the program with critical needs and prepare students for cybersecurity roles.
“The CyberSkills2Work program and team had significant success and impact in its first phase – training over 1,700 veterans and first responders for cybersecurity jobs and helping employers across the country fill critical jobs,” said Dr. Eman El-Sheikh, associate vice president for the UWF Center for Cybersecurity. “We have developed a truly transformative and scalable program that focuses on employability through competencies, skills and industry certifications. We look forward to expanding the program and welcome all employers interested in joining the National Employers Network and gaining access to skilled cybersecurity professionals.”
The White House Office of the National Cyber Director recently released the first-ever National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy, which seeks to transform cyber education. The strategy advocates for more robust skills-based cyber career pathways and more extensive collaboration between employers, educators, government and other key stakeholders to meet both urgent and long-term workforce needs.
The strategy highlights the UWF-led CyberSkills2Work Program as a model to establish public-private partnerships and facilitate greater participation by veterans in the cyber workforce in support of Pillar 3: Expand and Enhance America’s Cyber Workforce.
On Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration hosted a roundtable discussion to continue the conversation on National Cyber Workforce Education. The Office of the National Cyber Director met with six businesses, education partners and higher education institutions, including UWF. Attendees of the roundtable each made a commitment to strengthening the American cyber workforce, with UWF’s commitment being the CyberSkills2Work program.
The UWF Center for Cybersecurity and coalition will expand the CyberSkills2Work program to prepare more than 1,520 newly credentialed cybersecurity professionals over two years, a 247% increase from the two-year total number of trainees in the first grant.
Additional new objectives for the expanded CyberSkills2Work program include:
- More flexible upskilling and reskilling training pathways
- Expanded on-ramps and off-ramps for entry-level through advanced cybersecurity jobs
- 22 additional training pathways that prepare for 16 cybersecurity work roles and 17 core industry certifications
- An expanded National Employers Network and website to connect learners with cybersecurity employers and job opportunities
- An expanded focus on all critical infrastructure sectors
- Training workshops for NCAE-C institutions to help them launch similar workforce programs
Over the past three years, the UWF-led coalition has developed 28 training pathways that prepare for 15 cybersecurity work roles and eight industry certifications. The program trained over 1,700 transitioning military, first responders and veterans for cybersecurity careers in critical infrastructure sectors over the past three years.
Current and new coalition institutions include the University of West Florida, Augusta University, Columbus State University, Dakota State University, Eastern New Mexico University-Ruidoso, Florida International University, Metropolitan State University, San Antonio College, University of Houston, Cyber Florida at the University of South Florida and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
For more information about the UWF Center for Cybersecurity, visit uwf.edu/cyber. For more information about the CyberSkills2Work program, visit cyberskills2work.org.
National Cybersecurity Workforce Development Program showcase highlights program’s success and impact
May 15, 2023
The University of West Florida Center for Cybersecurity highlighted the success and impact of the National Cybersecurity Workforce Development Program at a showcase held at Florida International University in Washington, D.C., on May 11. Cybersecurity leaders addressed the program’s role in meeting the cybersecurity workforce challenge and program partners and graduates shared their perspectives on the program. Dr. Eman El-Sheikh, associate vice president for UWF’s Center for Cybersecurity and principal investigator for the national program, shared a program overview and highlighted its impact.
“The National Cybersecurity Workforce Development Program is an innovative, nationally scalable solution to address the growing shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals,” El-Sheikh said. “Instead of traditional academic programs, the Coalition has developed flexible work-role based educational pathways that focus on employability – the competencies and skills needed for various cybersecurity roles and the industry certifications and credentials needed to document them. This enables a significant expansion of the cybersecurity workforce who are job-ready from day one.”
Over the past three years, a coalition of 10 National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity institutions led by UWF has developed 28 training pathways that prepare for 15 cybersecurity work roles, and trained over 1,700 transitioning military, first responders and veterans for cybersecurity careers in critical infrastructure sectors. Legislative, federal and industry partners gathered in the nation’s capital to hear perspectives from the CyberSkills2Work program team, graduates and employers.
Keynote remarks were made by Mark Montgomery, Cyberspace Solarium Commission 2.0 executive director. Montgomery discussed the importance of programs that continue our investments in veterans and spouses and help address our cybersecurity workforce shortfalls.
“We need to capture and utilize the investments we as a country have already made in transitioning veterans and spouses,” Montgomery said. “Many of the veterans worked in cyber-adjacent fields while in the service, and they have the technical expertise and security clearances that make them great candidates for cybersecurity work in the private sector and state and local governments. We need to invest in programs like CyberSkills2Work and transition them from pilot programs to persistent, resourced programs supported by the private sector, academia and governments.”
The program is funded by a $9 million, three-year NSA National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity grant. The showcase was the first of its kind hosted by UWF and FIU in Washington, D.C.
“The CyberSkills2Work program showcases the strength of collaboration between academic institutions, the military, first responders, and the private sector in addressing the nation’s urgent need for a robust cybersecurity workforce,” said Randy Pestana, principal investigator, Florida International University CyberSkills2Work Program. “As part of the consortium, FIU is honored to contribute to the training and development of hundreds of veterans and first responders, empowering them to defend our critical infrastructure against ever-evolving cyber threats.”
Coalition member institutions include the University of West Florida, Augusta University, Dakota State University, Eastern New Mexico University–Ruidoso, Florida International University, Metropolitan State University, San Antonio College, University of Houston, University of South Florida-Cyber Florida and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
For more information about the CyberSkills2Work program, visit cyberskills2work.org.
August 3, 2023 – The White House Office of the National Cyber Director released the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy (NCWES) earlier this week. See WH briefing.
The Strategy highlights the CyberSkills2Work Program as a model to establish public-private partnerships and facilitate and support greater participation by veterans in the cyber workforce in support of Pillar 3: Expand and Enhance America’s Cyber Workforce.
SECURITYWEEK rss feed: www.securityweek.com
Local News:
Cybersecurity Professor Presented at National Conference
March 2023 – ENMU-Ruidoso’s Cybersecurity Professor Stephen Miller presented “Growth in Cyber/Cybersecurity in Windfarms/Energy Sector, and Native American Commerce” at the University of Texas at San Antonio (USTA) Academia Involvement in Community Cybersecurity Conference. His presentation provided an overview of our community outreach with dual credit, the CTE CyberNet training of high school teachers, the work on Windfarm Cybersecurity, and our work with Mescalero High School and the Mescalero Tribal Council and NCyTE grant work with Native Americans.
CTE CyberNet is a professional development initiative to strengthen cybersecurity education in America’s high schools ENMU-Ruidoso was named one of only five colleges and universities by the Department of Education.
CTE CyberNet seeks to increase the number of career and technical education (CTE) teachers who can effectively prepare students for cybersecurity education and careers. CTE CyberNet is driven by a local academy approach to help teachers deliver more rigorous CTE cybersecurity programs of study aligned to industry standards and industry-valued certifications. The academies give educators strategies and tools to impart the knowledge, skills, and abilities outlined in the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity Workforce Framework. CTE CyberNet academies are designed to also align with the knowledge units of Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (CAEs).
Nov. 22, 2022
A co-requisite for all ENMU-Ruidoso and dual credit Cybersecurity students is the IS254 NCL competition.
The Cyber Power Rankings were created by Cyber Skyline in partnership with the National Cyber League (NCL). Every year, over 10,000 students from more than 500 colleges & universities and 100 high schools across the US participate in the NCL competitions. These rankings represent the ability of students from these schools to perform real-world cybersecurity tasks on the Cyber Skyline platform. Students had to identify hackers from forensic data, pentest & audit vulnerable websites, recover from ransomware attacks, and more. Schools are ranked based on their top team performance, their top student’s individual performance, and the aggregate individual performance of their students.
Here are the ENMU-Ruidoso and Mescalero High School results for Fall 2023:
POWER RANKING:
ENMU-Ruidoso – National ranking: 82; Western US ranking: 29
Mescalero Apache School – National ranking: 46
Nov. 4, 2022
American Association of Community Colleges Podcast: Cybersecurity Training Programs at Community Colleges with Stephen Miller, Director of the Cybersecurity Center of Excellence at ENMU-Ruidoso, talking about cybersecurity training programs at community colleges, including how to grow programs even as technology changes and the need for collaboration.
NCyTE Center Receives Significant Grant Funding from NSF to Become a New ATE National Center
Oct. 1, 2020 – Bellingham, WA
Whatcom Community College (WCC), home of the National Cybersecurity Training and Education Center (NCyTE), will receive a $7.5 million Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) on October 1. For additional information, click on this link: NCyTE Center Grant
The Role of Community Colleges in Cybersecurity Education: Future Directions
Oct. 18-20, 2021 · Alexandra, VA
Stephen D. Miller (NCyTE & Eastern New Mexico University-Ruidoso) will present “The Successes and Challenges Faced by Community Colleges in Addressing the Evolving Cybersecurity Work Roles”
Click this link: Stephen Miller Presentation
for more information and to watch Stephen Miller’s interview
Inside the NSA’s plan to lure cyber talent
December 23, 2019
Federal Times article: “We need lots of talent, and that talent needs to be diverse and reflect who we are as a country,” said Diane Janosek, the commandant of the NSA’s National Cryptologic School.
