The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced that it is providing almost $3.6 million in cooperative agreements to develop a skilled workforce capable of protecting businesses from cybersecurity threats. These grants, totaling around $200,000 each, will be distributed to 18 organizations in 15 states to address the shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals.

NIST is an agency within the Department of Commerce and has partnered with NICE to oversee the multi-sector effort of building a cybersecurity workforce. Laurie E. Locascio, the director of NIST, emphasized that this investment is crucial in bridging the critical gap in the cybersecurity industry, as the economic and national security of the country rely on a competent workforce to combat cyber threats.

The U.S. CyberSeek tool revealed that there were approximately 450,000 cybersecurity job openings in the past year, with only 82 available workers for every 100 positions. This underscores the necessity of the current initiative to boost cybersecurity talent in the workforce.

Data unveils that in 2023, there were over 100 reported cases of private data exposure involving U.S. government entities, affecting 15 million individuals. The Consumer Sentinel Network reported that more than 353 million people were impacted by data breaches during the same year. The FBI received 880,418 complaints of cybercrime in 2023, representing a 10% increase from the previous year. The cost of cybercrime damage is projected to reach $10.5 trillion by 2025.

NIST's grant recipients will collaborate to establish Regional Alliances and Multistakeholder Partnerships to enhance cybersecurity education and workforce development. Additionally, NIST formed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Institute consortium last year in response to an executive order on AI safety policies from the Biden administration.