Cyber ranges get a boost in Maryland to strengthen the cyber talent pipeline
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Public- and private- sector employers in Maryland want more cyber professionals with hands-on experience out of college. State officials are answering their call by investing in cyber ranges.
Cybersecurity remains a pressing priority for governments and industry, but research shows demand for cyber professionals continues to outpace supply. In Maryland, for instance, more than 30,000 cyber jobs were open last year, but the state did not have enough cyber professionals to fill just 1 in 4 of those positions.
In an effort to chip away at the cyber workforce gap, Maryland is investing nearly $2 million into a training program to prepare young adults for a cybersecurity career. The funding will support experiential cyber training and job placement efforts at all 16 community colleges in Maryland, the state’s Gov. Wes Moore announced late last month.
BCR Cyber, a provider of cybersecurity training, certification, job placement and testing services, and the Maryland Association of Community Colleges were awarded the grant money. It will be doled out over three years, and state officials project the initiative will help prepare more than 1,100 students to be prospective cybersecurity professionals. It will also focus on training individuals historically underrepresented in the cyber industry, such as women and people of color.
Cyber ranges are at the center of the state’s investment. The ranges simulate a company’s network and generate various cyberattacks like ransomware threats, said Michael Spector, president of BCR Cyber. The simulations offer students the opportunity to detect, mitigate and remediate realistic cyber threats without putting an organization’s actual network at risk.
Students will field simulated cyberattacks as a team, similar to a secure operating center, so that they “get the practical application [of cybersecurity] like they would working in the real world, working for Northrop Grumman or working for the government,” Spector said. “That’s the main difference between academic training and experiential training … which is why employers are so enthused about this program.”
Erin Roth, assistant secretary at Maryland’s Division of Workforce Development and Adult Learning, said the division has partnered with the Governor’s Workforce Development Board whose staff have interviewed dozens of employers in the state, including government agencies like the Department of Information Technology, to better understand what their cyber needs were.
“What we heard from our employer partners across the spectrum was that they need talent … and they need people not just with traditional classroom instruction, [but] with some hands-on experience,” Roth said.
There are currently 10 cyber ranges available across Maryland’s community colleges that can serve about five students with one instructor per cohort, Spector said. Authorities hope to have a total of 15 cyber ranges eventually.
“We’re expecting people to go into [positions like] cyber support techs, IT specialists and desktop support analysts,” Roth said. “It’s really exciting to be able to support that many learners in gaining these skills and securing those jobs.”
This project is the first investment under the state’s Talent Innovation Program, which was signed into law earlier this year. The Talent Innovation Program looks to increase Marylanders’ access to job training in innovative fields, such as cybersecurity.
Roth said cyber ranges aren’t the only path forward to building the state’s cyber workforce. Officials are considering, for instance, working to expand apprenticeship programs in cybersecurity and related fields to further advance the state’s workforce efforts.
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