Careers in Cyber

Indiana is home to a booming pharmaceutical export economy and a leading manufacturing base. But like many states, Indiana is facing a growing vulnerability: more than 20,000 open cybersecurity roles in the state, and until recently, fewer than 600 high school students were on a path to fill them.

It’s an impossible equation to ignore, and a gap that is all too familiar across the country. Security challenges are a daily media headline for a variety of industries – from ransomware attacks disrupting hospital systems to data breaches exposing millions of customer records overnight – and companies of all sizes are experiencing the cyber talent crisis compound in real time.

A key part of addressing this challenge is recruiting strong entry-level cyber talent, and Indiana is doing something about it that is worth every workforce leader’s attention.

The first-of-its-kind cybersecurity pathway

Chat with industry leaders, educators, and families about career planning, and many would agree that conversations about the future start too late. It is especially true for emerging fields like cybersecurity where only three years ago less than four percent of U.S. high school students had access to a cybersecurity course.

Cybersecurity can be a great fit for analytical thinkers, problem solvers, and those drawn to puzzles, but young people can’t see themselves as potential contributors to the cybersecurity workforce if they don’t have opportunities to experience and understand their interests and how they relate to actual roles.

Recognizing this, Indiana considered: What if we made the pipeline visible for students by offering multiple entry points across enrollment, employment, and enlistment? What if we gave students a rigorous, credentialed way to demonstrate what they know?

Announced last month, Indiana is launching the nation’s first academic pathway on cybersecurity for students to open multiple doors beyond high school, leading a cross-sector coalition with College Board, Project Lead the Way (PLTW), Indiana Cyber Network, Indiana National Guard, Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana Chamber of Commerce Defense Council, Eli Lilly and Company, and others.

The model connects advanced high school technology coursework with real-world skill development, and students who complete the pathway can earn any of the state diplomas for college enrollment, employment, or enlistment.

Indiana’s goal is ambitious: scale from about 560 students taking cybersecurity courses across nearly 70 schools to 4,000 students across 200 schools in the next three years.

Helping more young people see themselves in cybersecurity

A new AP Cybersecurity course is launching in high schools nationwide this fall. College Board’s course is designed with employers like IBM and US Bank, college faculty, and high school educators to bring academic and industry expertise together. As importantly, it is built around the NICE Workforce Framework, the same standard that federal agencies and major employers use to define cybersecurity roles and competencies.

Students learn how to evaluate risk, implement common security controls, and monitor systems to detect common attack types. Throughout the course, they apply these technical skills to network and data protection. As importantly, students also develop durable skills that employers across every industry say they need but struggle to find, such as critical thinking, communication, and complex problem solving.

Upon completing the AP Cybersecurity course, students who take the spring exam have the potential to earn credentials that are recognized by both higher education and leading employers. The option for college credit and employer recognition is a foundational feature of AP Career Kickstart courses.

College Board is partnering with hundreds of employers to ensure interested communities have the necessary on ramps to engage the next generation of talent in their local schools. Leading industry employers are:

• Recognizing the course credential to help influence how students, parents, and school administrators value the course—and create the demand that drives enrollment across high schools.
• Partnering with schools, districts, and policymakers to ensure these courses can be accessed by as many students as possible and help them make informed choices earlier.
• Exploring how the course credential might align with talent recruitment efforts and preferences on early talent job descriptions. The companies getting ahead of the talent crisis are the ones treating high school credentials as evidence of preparation and potential.

Cyber literacy is a broad workforce issue

“A cyber-attack from half a world away can affect every member of the population in Indiana and across the nation,” said Lt. Col. Brent Nelson of the Indiana National Guard.

Cybersecurity is no longer a specialty skill set reserved for security teams. Computers and their networks are embedded in every industry and every dimension of daily life.

Every employer has a stake in this work. In a new video series for AP students and teachers created by The Cyber Guild and College Board, in partnership with leading cybersecurity companies,

Sean Stazler, CISO and VP of Cyber Security at Dominion Energy said, “I think cybersecurity awareness is the most important part to cybersecurity. Technology is certainly important, but everybody can buy technology. At the end of the day, cybersecurity is a people problem, not a technology problem.”

Equipping students earlier with these skills and foundational cybersecurity knowledge is a high-leverage investment for a prepared workforce. Indiana isn’t waiting, and that model is worth following.

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