The U.S. Government Needs an Army of Cybersecurity Specialists.
A cyberattack occurs in the United States every 39 seconds – a frightening statistic that affects everyone from small businesses to major government agencies.
The U.S. government is, fortunately, no stranger to this world and is investing heavily in enhancing its own cybersecurity infrastructure. In fact, cybersecurity is one of OnFrontiers’ five fastest-growing areas for knowledge requests by U.S. government contractors on our platform (alongside, AI/ML, cloud computing, data science, and logistics).
Coming on the heels of several cybersecurity executive orders by the Biden Administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and others are launching countless initiatives to attract and retain top talent in this space. Similarly, the Department of Defense (DOD) just launched its largest unclassified cyber defense exercise, Cyber Shield 2022, which included 800 National Guard personnel and a number of corporate partners.
Though funding for these initiatives is increasing, we simply don’t have enough talent. According to Cyberseek, there are 38,948 cybersecurity openings in federal, state, and local governments, including analysts, engineers, and senior executives.
Though we’ve seen an increase in university graduates and military veterans entering the space in recent years, we recognize the need to continue ensuring that talented senior leadership from academia and the private sector is helping to shore up our nation’s defenses.
OnFrontiers expert, Cisco Advisor, and former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Energy, Bruce Brody recently noted that the workforce needs “more leaders who are nimble and agile in terms of putting resilient defenses in place across the entire infrastructure… There are a lot of openings for these types of positions and we need as much talent as we possibly can to solve these problems.”
In particular, we hope that more flexible working arrangements and more collaboration through public-private partnerships will ensure the government can access resilient leaders that they need to solve mission-critical challenges, such as the threat of ransomware.
Through platforms like OnFrontiers, you don’t need to leave your current role to help enhance the U.S. government’s cyber defenses. We make data-driven connections between knowledge contributors and knowledge seekers so they engage in hourly consultations on everything from access control to zero trust.
If you are an independent cybersecurity consultant looking to build your book of business with government contractors, a mid-career professional looking to enhance your visibility in the space, or a recent retiree who just wants to maintain a pulse on the latest cybersecurity ideas, we can help you solve our country’s most consequential challenges for just a few hours per week.
