In a bid to bolster the nation’s security posture and close the skills gap, the White House this week announced the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy (NCWES). Many organizations, including Cisco, Google, Microsoft and IBM, have committed to the NCWES.

The initiative is designed to address the immediate and long-term demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals, with hundreds of thousands of cyber job vacancies nationwide. The strategy will supplement ongoing national security efforts including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act.

The NCWES was developed after consultation with numerous non-governmental stakeholder groups, such as private industry, academia, nonprofits and government partners. Several government and private sector organizations, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Security Agency (NSA), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Department of Labor (DOL), have pledged significant financial and education commitments to the NCWES.

The NSF will invest $24 million in CyberCorps Scholarship for Service awards over the next four years. NSA will release four grants to support a pilot initiative to develop four new Cyber Clinics at accredited U.S. colleges and universities. NIST will award up to $3,600,000 for Regional Alliances and Multistakeholder Partnerships to Stimulate cybersecurity education and workforce development projects. And DOL announced a $65 million award to 45 states and territories to develop and scale registered apprenticeship programs.

With all its partners, the NCWES aims to leverage adaptable ecosystems to effect change at scale, enable the lifelong development of cyberskills, and grow and enhance the cyber workforce by improving its diversity and inclusion.

A number of tech and security vendors have made announcements or commitments in connection with the NCWES or the National Cyber Workforce and Education Summit:

• Check Point Software has pledged to train one million individuals in cybersecurity skills by 2028 through its MIND Cyber Security Training Program, which offers free training kits to all educational organizations in the U.S.
• Cisco commits to training an additional 200,000 students in the U.S. over the next three years, building on the Cisco Networking Academy's education of more than 2 million U.S. students over the past 25 years.
• CrowdStrike plans to fill more than 300 internship positions, fund ten $10,000 scholarships, expand its SkillBridge apprenticeship program, and also make training materials and resources more broadly accessible.
• Fortinet is making its information security awareness and training service available for free for all K-12 school districts across the U.S., expanding its free training offerings to help more than 8 million staff and faculty members in U.S. schools, and advancing its pledge to train 1 million people in security by 2026.
• Google has committed more than $20 million to help thousands of students gain hands-on experience in cybersecurity, supporting the creation and expansion of cybersecurity clinics at 20 higher education institutions across the U.S., following the launch of the Google Cybersecurity Certificate for entry-level jobs.
• IBM is creating more pathways to cybersecurity careers through its new Cybersecurity Leadership Centers with Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), building on its last year’s commitment to training more than 150,000 people in security skills over three years.
• Microsoft is partnering with the Last Mile Education Fund, Whatcom Community College, and the American Association of Community Colleges to help skill and recruit 250,000 people into the security workforce by 2025.
• SAP expanded its Global Security Early Talent program, aligning with its goal to upskill 2 million learners worldwide with technology skills by the end of 2025.
• Trellix is committed to hiring 300 interns over the next two years and has committed to hiring from diverse backgrounds.

“Cybersecurity has become everyone’s issue and, as a result, responsibility. No longer is it a focus limited to specific industries or to a few specialized roles within an organization,” Trellix Chief Human Resources Officer Michael Alicea said in a statement. “Its presence created a major need for cybersecurity talent the workforce and current processes were not prepared for, which is why we’ve found ourselves overcome with a skills gap of 3.4 million people.”

“We must introduce children to cybersecurity early, increase scholarship funding and internship programs, create avenues for mid-career changes into cybersecurity, and retain the current workforce. Through all avenues and through working together we can change the DNA of the cybersecurity workforce and secure our future,” Alicea added.