Cy Says Blog & Podcast

I just returned from the 2022 NICE Conference in Atlanta, GA. It was amazing to meet up with colleagues we have worked with for the past 6 years face-to-face. It was also energizing to connect with new people who are all working to help “Demystifying Cybersecurity,” the theme of the conference. Over the course of 3-days, we convened on topics like degrees, apprenticeships, DEI, frameworks, pedagogy, curriculum, dashboards, and much more. I heard a ton of buzzwords and approaches but there was one particular talk that stood out to me.

On day 2 during the lunch keynote, we all had the pleasure of hearing from Paul Bingham from Western Governors University. Being fully transparent, they were a main sponsor of the event so I expected to hear just how great they are and all the ways they are educating and filling the “skills gap.” For the record, I am a big fan of their program and we did get some of that, but he took it in a very different direction than I expected.

He shared multiple headlines from I believe an NSF publication. Maybe I should’ve taken better notes but not the point today. What those headlines represented were articles written 10, 7, and 5 years ago about the challenges we are and will face in the realm of cybersecurity. He talked about advancements in technology, diversity and inclusion efforts, and much more. The bottom line, all of those stories are 100% still accurate and true today. In many aspects, like the talent pool, we are actually worse.

They announced the updated numbers for the Cyberseek website on day 1 of the conference. The new total that will be shown a million times by all of us increased to 714,548 job postings. This represents a 43% increase in the 12-month period compared to only 18% across the entire employment market. The other statistic that startled me was the number of employed cybersecurity workforce. The number is now 1,091,575 which represents an increase from the last update of about 40,000 workers. This indicates that the number of role growth was around 3X the number of employed workers. In essence, we are still losing the talent battle.

We have added more degrees, boot camps, apprenticeships, certifications, and automation yet we are still losing. Interest in the field has never been higher and pathways into them continue to grow. We continue to throw money and solutions at it but we are still where we were at 10-years ago as outlined in the stories shared by Mr. Bingham. What are we missing?

I firmly believe there isn’t a silver bullet solution but I am also curious to how we slow down the 3X gap in job openings and candidates we are experiencing every time the data updates. The time is now to change the narrative and our approach. We have to stop talking about solutions and delivering results. It is easy to forget each of these roles represents a missing link for our government or a company. They represent vulnerabilities, ransomware, IP loss, and most frightening of all, national security.

The point of my rant is to open up a discussion. Comment, share, argue, agree, or whatever you feel you need to do but I can confidently say that what we have done and continue to do isn’t working.

New members will enhance the board’s focus to grow the cybersecurity workforce through high-quality LevelUp Apprenticeships, and engage students through PowerUp Cyber Games.

St. LOUIS, MO– CyberUp, a national nonprofit organization today announced four new board members who will each help support the nonprofit’s work to cultivate the cybersecurity talent pipeline for today and tomorrow.

“We’re excited to expand our board with four new members who will bring diverse expertise and insight to our work,” said CyberUp Board Secretary Doug Menendez. “We have worked diligently to ensure CyberUp’s board and leadership represents a variety of experts from various industries and is a better reflection of the world we live in, and the newest board members are no exception.”

The four new board members are:

• Renita Rhodes, Principal Auditor – Information Security, Wells Fargo
• Suda Suvarna, Deputy Chief Information Officer/Managing Director, Deloitte
• Eddie Williams, Strategy, Governance and Management, PwC
• Chris Hogan, Vice President, Corporate Security Architecture and Engineering, MasterCard

To learn more about the CyberUp board and read member bios, click here.

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CyberUp is a 501c3 created to cultivate the cybersecurity talent pipeline for today and tomorrow. CyberUp launched in February 2016 as a regional effort to expand the availability of cybersecurity talent but aspires to reach a national audience. In a short time, the organization and the organization’s leadership has grown to be a nationally recognized team that has the solution to shrinking the forecasted 2.5 million job openings by 2022. CyberUp develops the cybersecurity talent pipeline both short and long-term. Our short-term solution of apprenticeship develops and prepares a skilled workforce for companies to hire. Our long-term approach connects youth with a gamified, virtual cybersecurity competition to gain cybersecurity skills and piques their interest in pursuing STEM-related careers. https://www.wecyberup.org

A little over four years ago a group of community leaders came together and presented an idea on how we can grow the regional workforce. These leaders included organizations like St. Louis Regional Chamber, Leadership Council of Southwestern Illinois, and Scott Air Force Base. The base was seeking a solution to their growing skills gap and a way to overcome hiring cleared personnel. There wasn’t an easy solution, but with the creation of CyberUp and a little bit of tenacity, collaboration, and community support we have a solution. With support from Boeing and the Scott Air Force Base Airman and Family Readiness Center, CyberUp has developed a pathway to help transitioning veterans begin a high paying career in cybersecurity.

On November 10th, CyberUp graduated 17 veterans and military spouses from our inaugural Veteran LevelUp Program. The program targeted veterans transitioning from active duty with 6 – 12 months left to their military commitment or active National Guard and Reservists. Participants received 6 months of free, virtual supported training by CyberUp. Their training will ramp up their technical and cybersecurity skills to CompTIA Security+. Upon completion of their training, veterans are eligible for apprenticeship placement services from CyberUp. Through placement at an employer partner of CyberUp, veterans will complete 2,000 hours as a paid apprentice and continue their technical skills training.

To build on the success of the first cohort, Boeing has invested in CyberUp again in 2020 to train 25 more veterans and military spouses in 2021. We will team up and support Scott Air Force Base who forecasted to have approximately 850 service members transition in 2020. This is the first step to attracting and training veterans in cybersecurity to stay in the St. Louis region. Veterans are highly sought after by local companies because of their commitment to mission and core values. “We have a tremendous amount of talent transitioning each year from our partners at the base. The more we can do to incentivize them to stay in our region will help fill our growing skills gap. I would like to personally grow this program to account for a minimum of 10% of the veterans transitioning each year. When we do this right, we can help other military communities through apprenticeship and training. The opportunities for both the veteran and the region,” Tony Bryan, Executive Director at CyberUp explains.

To learn more about the Veteran LevelUp Program, please visit CyberUp’s website at www.wecyberup.org/levelup-veterans. Information about the program, how to apply, and additional upcoming class details can be found there.

This episode is a cover of our recently posted blog Top 5 Ways Companies Can Make Apprenticeship Work. https://wecyberup.org/cy-says-blog-makeapprenticeshipwork/

Host, Tony Bryan, covers 5 small things a company can do right now to create an environment that supports entry-level hiring, recruiting, and retention of your teams.

LevelUp Cyber podcast host, Tony Bryan, is joined by the CEO and Founder of Velta Technology, Craig Duckworth. Craig shares how he got started in the industry, why he started Velta, and the difference between IT vs. OT.

In this episode, Tony Bryan shares a few moments and stories about his trip to the White House to represent the 204 newly appointed Apprenticeship Ambassadors. He also shared what the program means, the opportunities it provides, and how you can get involved.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?522597-1/lady-jill-biden-remarks-apprenticeship-ambassador-initiative

Tony also spent time talking more about the 120-day apprenticeship sprint and some of the upcoming events they are hosting with partners to recruit employers.

In this episode, Tony Bryan shares the 3 questions he asks every potential apprentice when CyberUp is contacted about their cybersecurity apprenticeship.

1. What is your timeline?
2. What is your budget?
3. How do you learn best?

These simple questions help point an interested person to the best option for them and ensures they are making the right decision to pursue the industry. There isn't a one size fits all approach to gaining skills and by asking yourself this you will determine the right first step for you.

In this episode of the LevelUp Cyber podcast, host Tony Bryan is joined by guest Dougan Sherwood. Dougan is the Executive Director of the Global Center for Cybersecurity (GCC). GCC is on a mission to increase the diversity of the cybersecurity workforce and connect companies together in a common org to do it collectively. A discussion was had on all of this plus the value of working together.

In episode 35 of the LevelUp Cyber podcast your host, Tony Bryan is joined by the CEO and co-founder of Cyber Skyline, Franz Payer. Franz and Tony chatted about the difference between skill attainment and checking boxes with degrees and certifications.