The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) this week announced the availability of a free tool designed to help users identify and navigate a potential career path in cyber.
The new Cyber Career Pathways Tool focuses on five workforce categories: IT, cybersecurity, cyber effects (i.e. defensive and offensive cyber capabilities), cyber intelligence, and cross functional (i.e. management and law enforcement). There are a total of 52 work roles across these categories.
Users can select a work role and the tool will provide a description of that job, the tasks they perform, as well as the knowledge, skills and abilities one needs for the job.
The Cyber Career Pathways Tool also provides a list of the top 5 related roles based on the tasks, knowledge, skills and abilities they share.
“It is more important than ever in this digital age for government and industry to invest in supporting the development of our cyber workforce,” said Bryan Ware, CISA assistant director for cybersecurity. “To protect our interconnected systems from the myriad of threats that we face every day, we need to attract new talent. Growing and strengthening the pipeline of cyber talent is a top priority for CISA.”
CISA says the tool, which is based on the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity Workforce Framework, has been developed in collaboration with the Interagency Federal Cyber Career Pathways Working Group, which includes CISA, the Defense Department, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
It has been predicted that the global shortage of cybersecurity professionals will reach 1.8 million by 2022. CISA hopes that the new tool will be useful to individuals interested in starting a cyber career (both teenagers and adults) and people who want to advance in their career.
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