Diane Janosek, commandant of the National Security Agency’s National Cryptologic School, said the agency is focusing on expanding access to cybersecurity education as cyber threats continue to bring economic risks, Federal Times reported Tuesday.
Janosek noted that NSA seeks to train future cyber professionals on skills that can be applied to industries beyond defense and intelligence such as manufacturing, health care, banking and finance. NSA currently holds cyber education partnerships with over 300 institutions through the Centers of Academic Excellence program.
The agency also designates institutions as national or regional resource centers. The national centers handle webinars, mentoring, faculty development, information sharing and application review while the regional centers help academic entities prepare for CAE designation in cyber operations, cyber defense research or cyber defense.
According to an NSA spokesperson, around 63 of the CAE partners are minority-serving institutions.
“We now can recruit in very key areas from the schools that we know have the caliber of the curriculum that we’re looking for,†noted Janosek. “We need lots of talent, and that talent needs to be diverse and reflect who we are as a country.â€