Our own John McCumber, director of cybersecurity advocacy for North America, was provided a great opportunity this week to present the findings from our recent 2018 Cybersecurity Workforce Study to the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education Working Group (NICEWG) at its monthly meeting. As you may well know – or can guess –  this working group covers the NICE Framework published by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and brings together a diverse group of public and private sector cybersecurity experts to discuss ways to advance cybersecurity education, training and workforce development.

To be invited to present to this group is a big step for our association and shows the recognition that (ISC)² and our membership enjoy among the top levels of cybersecurity influencers. It also demonstrates the importance of our ongoing research on the skills gap shortage, which this year rose to 2.93 million globally. John’s presentation covered the direct findings, an update on our new gap calculation model and an analysis of the data to extrapolate trends we’re seeing. This led to a discussion of how we can expand the cybersecurity talent pool we’re drawing from and encourage a younger and more diverse workforce.

It’s yet another reminder of the work that John and many other executives at (ISC)² are doing to continually improve the recognition of our association and its certifications, plus raise the profile of our membership to inspire a more safe and secure cyber world. 

Which data points from the Cybersecurity Workforce Study resonated most with you?