Feds Hire Thousands of Cyber Security Professionals

And thousands more will be hired

The White House reiterated its clear focus on cyber security again this week, releasing a memorandum detailing its cybersecurity workforce strategy.

According to the White House, the Federal Government has hired 3,000 new cybersecurity and IT professionals from the start of 2016 through June 2016. Even more, the feds state a commitment to hire 3,500 more cybersecurity and IT professionals by the start of 2017.

In a [link url=”https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2016/m-16-15.pdf” title=”memorandum“] released Tuesday, the White House laid out its first-ever Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy, which is a really a continuation of its [link url=”https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/09/fact-sheet-cybersecurity-national-action-plan” title=”Cybersecurity National Action Plan“] that was released back in February 2016.

Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy

According to the memo, “the vast majority of Federal agencies cite a lack of cybersecurity and IT talent as a major resource constraint that impacts their ability to protect information and assets.”

That statement alone is a major driving force in the strategy. And in order to change that statement, the White House detailed how it plans to both recruit and retain top cybersecurity pros.

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Four key initiatives

Four key initiatives make up the bulk of the new Strategy:

1. Expand the cybersecurity workforce with education and training. The new Strategy includes up to $62 million in 2017 funding to expand cybersecurity education across the U.S. Scholarships, development grants, and academic collaboration are all planned.
2. Recruit top U.S. cyber talent. The new Strategy called for enhanced outreach efforts to all cyber talent, regardless of gender or background.
3. Retain and develop cyber talent. The development of cybersecurity career paths, credentialing programs, skill enhancement are all included in the Strategy.
4. Identify cybersecurity workforce needs. This involves communication and collaboration between agencies to both identify cyber security gaps and get those gaps filled by cyber talent in a workable time frame.

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