The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States has allocated $3.6M to develop a workforce to protect enterprises against cybersecurity threats.
To address the need for qualified cybersecurity workers, the Department of Commerce’s NIST announced on April 3 that 18 education and community-focused groups across 15 states would receive awards totalling around $200,000.
Because NICE, a collaboration between the public and commercial sectors, will be in charge of the cooperative agreements, they will involve multiple sectors in their implementation.
According to NIST director Laurie E. Locascio, the investment is closing a “critical gap” in the cybersecurity workforce.
“Our economic and national security depend on a highly skilled workforce capable of defending against ever-increasing cyber threats.”
NICE-funded CyberSeek, a U.S. tool that analyzes cybersecurity job market data, indicates that there were approximately 450,000 cybersecurity job opportunities in the local market last year.
NIST noted that at the time, there were only 82 individuals available to cover every 100 cybersecurity job openings, underscoring the necessity of the current endeavour.
According to data from Statista, the number of cases of disclosed private data exposure for U.S. government institutions increased from 74 in 2022 to at least 100 in 2023. In those incidents, 15 million people’s personal information was compromised.
Consumer Sentinel Network states that data breaches affected approximately 353 million individuals in 2023.
The public reported 880,418 cybercrime incidents in 2023, up 10% from 2022, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Internet Crime Report.
By 2025, the estimated overall cost of damage resulting from cybercrime will be $10.5 trillion.
To collaborate with nearby companies and charities that require a cybersecurity workforce, NIST’s award grantees will establish the Regional Alliances and Multistakeholder Partnerships to Stimulate (RAMPS) cybersecurity education and workforce development.
In November last year, NIST spearheaded the creation of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Institute consortium in reaction to the Biden administration’s executive order on AI safety regulations.
