US Government Releases New Strategy to Address Shortage in Cybersecurity Workforce

The Biden administration has issued a strategy document calling on the government, private sector and civil society groups to work together in addressing cybersecurity workforce shortages.

The National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy highlights four important goals: equipping Americans with cyber skills, transforming cyber education, expanding the national cyber workforce and strengthening the federal cyber workforce. To achieve the four goals, the strategy relies on non-government organizations to provide funding and learning opportunities.

The strategy also calls on Congress to reform immigration policies to ensure that foreign workers will have opportunities to obtain cyber skillsets, CyberScoop reported.

The cyber workforce shortage is a global issue that saw a significant rise in 2022. According to an (ISC)2 report, the global cybersecurity workforce in 2022 was at about 4.6 million, 11.1 percent higher than the previous year. However, the global cybersecurity workforce gap for that same year was at about 3.4 million, 26.2 percent higher than the previous year.

In the United States, the cybersecurity workforce in 2022 was at about 1.2 million, 5.5 percent higher than the previous year. The workforce gap in the U.S. was at about 410,000, 9 percent higher than the previous year.

The report went on to note that the cyber workforce shortage jeopardizes functions like risk assessment and technology oversight and critical systems patching. The gap is severe in the aerospace, government, education and transportation sectors, according to the report.