By Elise Awwad, President and CEO, DeVry University
What if bands of bandits relentlessly stormed understaffed banks across this country every few seconds, escaping scot-free with handfuls of stacks of hundred-dollar bills? I would be skeptical that we would label it a labor shortage. We would call it a national emergency. I present this cinematic metaphor to underscore the scope and urgency that we must attach to a very real crisis in cybersecurity.
Nationwide and globally, overworked and understaffed cyber defense teams are stretched to the limit. We desperately need to expand our available talent pool for these positions. We're not training the right people fast enough, and the consequences have been bad and they're only going to get worse.
Hostile hackers are not, unfortunately, in equally short supply. We face an abundance of malicious actors, organized criminal enterprises, and even sophisticated teams bankrolled by rival nations abroad. Black hat hackers don't plan on abiding by any code of ethical conduct or adhering to a moral or fair playing field. In response, we must work with reciprocal intensity to prepare dedicated, adaptable would-be cyber defenders.
Presently, experts calculate that cyber-crime in the United States alone takes a toll of hundreds of billions annually, and this figure is exponentially climbing year after year. Cyber-attacks may very well extract one trillion from the American economy alone in 2025 and beyond. The frequency of major cyber-attacks is projected to be every two seconds by 2031. Making things worse, in the United States alone, hundreds of thousands of cybersecurity positions are unfilled. Globally, industry experts calculate that five million cyber defense desks remain empty.
The intelligence community has taken note. The NSA rang alarm bells on their growing concern over this over-extended and understaffed sector. Every layer of our government is susceptible to shadowy digital threats. We can only imagine what harm can be done if cyber criminals capture access to electrical grids, traffic systems, advance weaponry, and even nuclear infrastructure or devices. While AI-driven systems deliver complex cybersecurity measures, hackers also seize automation's potency for identifying and exploiting system vulnerabilities.
An arms race between bad actors and cyber defenders is not a cold war. It is an endless showdown. A colleague referred to the infinite mutation of digital threats to a biological virus warping in a petri dish. Phishing, malware, keystroke logging, ransomware, and increasingly sophisticated invisible threats flood networks, scouring for vulnerable cracks to slip through. With the reality of these specters looming, cybersecurity demands rigorous, perpetual hustle. This ranges from entry-level analysts to seasoned veterans of the sector.
With automation contributing to layoffs, cybersecurity has also remained the outlier. Cybersecurity's growth over the last decade has continued apace. As AI-powered tools accelerate change in cyber defense and crime, a skillset and adaptable knowledge base has never been more critical for prospective hires.
We are at a juncture where sustainable solutions need to be put into practice. For individuals with existing IT knowledge, upskilling can enhance their resumé for cybersecurity positions. Higher learning institutions and tech-centered programs must drive innovative programming and commit to refreshed, up to date curriculum. Often the only constant of technology is furious forward motion. Cybersecurity is the Ferrari Testarossa of tech, and we must keep pace. DeVry University is committed to preparing our graduates to meet the rigorous, breakneck shifts within the cybersecurity space.
Let's be honest though, there are industry anxieties and educators have to respond proactively. Hiring managers have legitimate reservations in hiring recent graduates because of a perceived lack of experience. From a thousand-foot view, we need to build seamless bridges between the workspace and the classroom. With that in mind, we partnered with cybersecurity training leaders at Cloud Range to innovate. Last fall, we unveiled our Cyber Skills Training Platform, which presents our students with direct experience in a real-time, simulated cybersecurity command center. In this simulated environment that mirrors present-day workplace situations, our students are immersed in the entire spectrum of threats and defensive processes. Our graduates can confidently say they have executed cybersecurity techniques, from analytics to investigation to repulsion and remediation.
DeVry University has actively participated in the National Cyber League's (NCL) Cyber Competition over the past three years, and our students consistently rank in the Top 50 within the 10,000 students participating from 500 colleges and universities nationwide. Like Cloud Range, the NCL is another incredible platform where learners execute the comprehensive operations of cybersecurity professionals. We continue to look forward to further practical methods to immerse our learners in the experiences that mimic the real-world cyber threat environment.
This is also a clear and present danger to the private sector, the public sector and every household. Because the threats are conducted by equal opportunity attackers, the solutions cannot be confined to business and education leaders. We are beyond sheer discourse. We need cohesive and coordinated action. If private sectors, educational institutions and government agencies unify in purpose and establish a dynamic collaboration, we can solve this.
This is untenable. Let's not let it become unthinkable.
