Biden administration completes cyber apprenticeship sprint

The Biden administration on Tuesday wrapped a 120-day cybersecurity apprenticeship sprint, part of a larger effort to fill a long-standing workforce shortage.

In all, the initiative, which spun out of a cyber workforce and education summit, saw more than 7,000 apprentices get hired, according to a White House fact sheet. Of those, more than 1,000 were from the private sector.

In addition, nearly 200 new cybersecurity Registered Apprenticeship programs were approved or are in the works, the fact sheet states. At the time of the July summit, there were 714 such programs and more than 42,000 apprentices in cybersecurity-related positions.

Meanwhile, participating entities — such as tech giant IBM, Cisco, McDonald’s and the Defense Department — added 120 cybersecurity-related occupations to pre-existing and new Registered Apprenticeship programs.

The sprint was a partnership between the departments of Labor and Commerce and other federal agencies and the Office of National Cyber Director to help industry associations, private employers, unions and others fill more than 700,000 open cybersecurity positions.

National Cyber Director Chris Inglis is spearheading the development of a cyber workforce strategy that will be linked to the Biden administration’s National Cyber Strategy, which he is also coordinating.

Last month Inglis said the strategy, the first of its kind, was potentially months away from being released.