COVID-19 has accelerated the use of a remote workforce, and there are advantages we can take from this swift change to our work culture.
Even before COVID-19 there was a serious need for cybersecurity support, with a gap of 500,000 open cybersecurity jobs. The demand has only increased during the pandemic.
If we take advantage of the remote capacity of this role, then it greatly opens our pool of cybersecurity resources. There is a unique opportunity in the current job market with high unemployment rates, and an abundance of cybersecurity roles available to take advantage and diversify our cybersecurity workforce.
While it may cost millions for our adversaries to build robust weapons that could circumvent our defenses, cyber attacks are among the cheapest and easiest ways to create civil havoc and potentially undermine US democracy. With countries like China graduating over 12X as many engineers as the US1 annually, the threat to our Nation’s infrastructure is both real and urgent. This has driven a huge demand in cyber-talent. Some estimate there will be over 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity roles by 20212 and over 50 percent of companies report a shortage of qualified cybersecurity talent. Finding, cultivating, and retaining cybersecurity talent are struggles the Federal Contracting market must tackle.
