SC3 partnered with NPower to train young adults with the skills to successfully pursue careers in cybersecurity.
Today, cybersecurity is one of the most important fields in technology, and yet, despite its importance, many women and professionals of color are largely unaware that this career opportunity exists. Earlier this week, Raytheon and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) released Securing Our Future: Closing the Cyber Talent Gap, a survey of young adults in 12 countries about cybersecurity career interest and preparedness. The results show that many of these young adults, ages 18 to 26, aren’t receiving information about the cybersecurity profession—and the problem is even worse for females. Globally, 66 percent of women reported their career counselors and teachers had never mentioned cybersecurity careers as an option.
With that in mind, it’s not surprising that 86 percent of computer science degrees issued last year in the U.S. and Canada went to males. And when we look beyond gender, we learn that only 4.1 percent of these computer science degrees went to black students and 7.7 percent to Hispanic students, versus 58 percent to white students.
As we wrap up National Cyber Security Awareness Month, NCSA is turning the attention to the cybersecurity workforce crisis with a week focused on building the next generation of cyber professionals. The global shortage of cybersecurity professionals is expected to reach a staggering 1.5 million by 2020. Addressing this workforce gap is one of the reasons we created the Symantec Cyber Career Connection (SC3), a program focused on recruiting and training young adults, including people of color, women and veterans, to fill this growing gap.
READ MORE from Cecily Joseph's guest blog on StaySafeOnline.org.
Cecily Joseph is Symantec's VP, Corporate Responsibility and Chief Diversity Officer