Dive Brief:
- Federal News Radio reports that since President Trump called for improved cybersecuirty at the federal level in a May 11 executive order, efforts to produce skilled cybersecurity employees have exploded.
- Rodney Peterson, director of the National Institute of Science and Technology’s National Initiative on Cybersecurity Education told Federal News Radio that he has seen first hand quick efforts to develop employees capable of protecting data. Improvements include an increase in the tools and resources used by trainers to develop the cyber workforce.
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has formed an Information Security Training working group, which is establishing a set of standards to be used by all training programs, in coordination with top cybersecurity training firms.
Dive Insight:
Organizational cybersecurity at private companies also has been in the spotlight thanks to various high-profile breaches, including the WannaCry ransomware attack. Business are reporting that there are too few cybersecurity candidates available in the market currently, so companies are turning to outside training sources or developing internal training with the support of expert consultants.
Think cybersecurity isn't an issue for your organization? Just one hacking event or email breach can have severe consequences, and even take down company data in a matter of minutes. All companies need to be thinking of ways to bring cybersecurity training into their regular training programs to educate employees. After all, people tend to be the top threat to data security initiatives.
According to the CompTIA, businesses tend to focus on the cyber threats they know best, mainly viruses and malware, and continue to use dated tactics and training when there are more threats out there to fight. Employers in all industries need to be more proactive to protect their business.
