CybersecurityNIST’s regional approach to addressing U.S. cybersecurity challenge

Published 23 September 2016

NIST has awarded grants totaling nearly $1 million for five projects that are taking a community approach to addressing the U.S. shortage of skilled cybersecurity employees. The NIST-led National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), a partnership among government, academia, and the private sector, will oversee the grants as part of its mission to support cybersecurity education, training, and workforce development.

The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded grants totaling nearly $1 million for five projects that are taking a community approach to addressing the U.S. shortage of skilled cybersecurity employees. The NIST-led National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), a partnership among government, academia, and the private sector, will oversee the grants as part of its mission to support cybersecurity education, training, and workforce development.

“The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education grants support job-driven training programs designed to fill the many cybersecurity job openings in both the public and private sectors,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. “As part of Commerce’s ‘Skills for Business’ initiative, these grants strengthen regional workforce partnerships that engage employers to close the gap between talent supply and demand in this critically important high-growth field.”

NIST notes that a2015 analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by Stanford University’s Peninsula Press (see Ariha Setalvad, Demand to fill cybersecurity jobs booming, Peninsula Press, 31 March 2015) found that there were more than 209,000 open cybersecurity positions in the United States, and the number of job postings had risen 74 percent in the previous five years.

NIST will fund five nonprofit organizations to establish partnerships to increase the pipeline of students pursuing cybersecurity careers, help more Americans attain the skills they need for well-paying jobs in cybersecurity, and support local economic development to stimulate job growth. The partnerships will align the workforce needs of local business and nonprofit organizations with the learning objectives of the NICE Workforce Framework.

The Regional Alliances and Multistakeholder Partnerships to Stimulate Cybersecurity and Workforce Development, or RAMPS, projects will run for fifteen months. By design, they align with the NICE objective of facilitating state and regional consortia to address local cybersecurity workforce needs.

NICE supports local community efforts to leverage regional assets in cybersecurity education, training and workforce development,” NICE Director Rodney Petersen said. “The RAMPS projects can serve as models for other regions.”

A strong cybersecurity workforce is not just a need in the IT sector. Private and public organizations involved in critical infrastructure — such as banking and energy — as well as retail companies and small businesses, need a knowledgeable and skilled cybersecurity workforce in today’s digital economy, Petersen said.