Welcome! As we head into the spring season with a continued focus on innovatively growing, building, and strengthening our cybersecurity workforce, let’s be reminded of the importance of collaboration, connection, and communication. Learning from others, to include those efforts done by our international partners, allows us to share best practices in cybersecurity education, training, and workforce development. Our featured article is an example of how New Brunswick in Canada has adopted the NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework to build a workforce that is skilled, capable, and secure. Whether it’s academia, industry, or government, we all play a part in developing a workforce that is ready and equipped to defend our valued assets. The academic spotlight on New York University Tandon School of Engineering lets us know the importance of using local government and businesses to create programs that develop technical leaders in cybersecurity. The industry spotlight on AT&T shows us how they have created a program to reskill and retool their workforce by allowing the employee to plot a pathway to their desired job or to learn a particular skill. The government spotlight on the Federal Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council Workforce Committee highlights their efforts to provide innovative solutions to building a talented federal cybersecurity workforce to meet department and agency goals. Together we can drive change, together we can stimulate innovation, and together we can pursue action. In the words of Helen Keller, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

NAME: Andy Kleinick

TITLE: Detective III of Cyber Crimes Section

ORGANIZATION: Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD)

SPECIALTY AREA: Cyber Investigation/Digital Forensics/Training, Education, and Awareness

WORK ROLES: Cyber Crime Investigator/Law Enforcement Forensics Analyst/Cyber Instructor

ACADEMIC DEGREES: None

CERTIFICATIONS: AccessData Certified Examiner (ACE); EnCase Certified Examiner (EnCE); Network Intrusion Responder Program (NITRO)

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Tap the Cultural Trend: Embed Industry Leaders in the Cyber Fellows Program

by Nasir Memon, New York University Tandon Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Associate Dean of Online Education; Kevin Chung, New York University Tandon Graduate and Founder of the Cyber Fellows Program Capture the Flag

The Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, remote medicine with streaming 3D images, artificial intelligence: our digital universe is doubling annually and, with it, threats and vulnerabilities to our security and privacy grow exponentially. Any hope of pulling ahead of cyber criminals and nation-state warriors lies in rapidly educating a huge new cadre of cybersecurity experts by using techniques as revolutionary as today’s technology. Read More

Using “Skills Pivot” to Reskill Employees for Future Success

by Paul Eriksen, Lead External Recruiter, AT&T

Every employee will wonder, at some point in their career, if their particular specialty will continue to be valued or need to be enhanced with additional training. That same concern holds for corporate strategy – companies continue to evolve to meet future demand. As AT&T, the world’s largest telecom company, works on their own evolution, reinventing itself as a cloud-based premier entertainment and communications company, they’ve invested in a program for their employee’s continued learning and skill development. Read More 

CIO Council Workforce Committee: Strengthening the Federal IT/Cybersecurity Workforce

by Trey Kennedy, Senior Advisor, Federal CIO Council

The Federal Government faces an increasing shortage of cybersecurity and IT talent due to persistent recruitment and retention challenges and competition from the private sector. By continuing to partner across the Federal Government and with organizations such as NICE, the Federal Chief Information Officers Council (CIO) Council strives to fill the critical gaps as quickly and effectively as possible to defend the nation’s infrastructure, deliver digital services to the American people, and modernize the Federal Government’s IT systems and operations. Read More