Security News > 2023 > August > US government outlines National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy
After the release of a National Cybersecurity Strategy and its implementation plan, the Biden-Harris Administration has unveiled the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy, "Aimed at addressing both immediate and long-term cyber workforce needs."
Transform cyber education by building and leveraging ecosystems to improve cyber education, expanding competency-based cyber education, investing in educators, and making cyber education and training more affordable and accessible.
Expand and enhance the national cyber workforce by collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders, adoping a skills-based approach to recruitment and development, and increasing access to cyber jobs for all Americans.
In section 2, under Transform Cyber Education, it mentions 'expand competency-based cyber education.' Expanding competency-based cyber education is only attainable by utilizing simulation based training to overcome the age-old conundrum of you can't get experience without a job and you can't get a job without experience. The only way to do this is to incorporate experiential learning in the form of advanced simulation into cyber education programs."
"ISSA has long been studying the life and times of the cybersecurity professional for the past 7 years and has seen little change in the cyber skills gap. In fact, it is widening. The Biden Administration's strategy is exactly what the industry needs and addresses what we have been advocating for: the collaboration of education institutions, government programs, corporate organizations, and the cyber association communities to build pathways to bridge the gap between pure education and employment," she noted.
Sherron Burgess, VP Strategy at Cyversity, noted that the NCWES sets a direction for both workforce and education and represents a necessary innovation in transforming cyber education.