NEW YORK, May 4, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The
International Consortium for Minority Cybersecurity Professionals
(ICMCP) announced today the kick-off of a training scholarship
program for more than 200 emerging cybersecurity professionals.
Google has sponsored the scholarships for the six-month training
and mentorship program targeting students, unemployed professionals
and others looking to enter the cybersecurity workforce from
underrepresented populations.
The 214 scholarship recipients were selected from a diverse
applicant pool of more than 400 ICMCP members. Overall, 43% of the
class of scholars self-identify as women and more than 62% of the
recipients are currently unemployed. The recipients are also
geographically diverse, coming from 13 different nations and 32 US
states. They will participate in Red Team and Blue Team training
with industry-leading training providers, Security Innovation and
RangeForce, to develop essential skills for offensive and defensive
work roles, which are in high demand in the industry. There are
currently an estimated 3.2 million open job positions in the global
cybersecurity industry.
"Google is committed to supporting and developing the next
generation of cybersecurity professionals while actively partnering
with ICMCP to ensure this next wave of professionals is truly
representative of the overall population. ICMCP is creating the
opportunity for participants to not only learn, but to build a
community of supporters, peers and mentors, which can be critical
to success in cybersecurity," said Sarah
Morales, Outreach Program Manager, Security & Privacy at
Google.
"This scholarship program is working to change the face of the
cybersecurity workforce," said Beverly
Benson, Workforce Development Committee Chair, ICMCP, and
Program Director, IT & Security, the American Women's College
at Bay Path University. "Beyond that, it has the potential to
fundamentally impact the professional careers of more than 200
smart and ambitious professionals through access to training,
networking and job placement opportunities."
"We are grateful to Google for their support of the core mission
of ICMCP," said Larry Whiteside,
Jr., President, ICMCP and CTO & CSO, CyberClan.
"Ultimately, we hope to work with many more of the companies in the
cybersecurity community in an intentional and concerted effort to
foster recruitment, retention and inclusion of underrepresented
minorities in the profession."
The online training courses and hands-on cyber range events,
from both RangeForce and Security Innovation, map to the NICE
Cybersecurity Framework, ensuring that scholarship recipients will
have marketable skills upon completion of the training. After the
three-month training phase, recipients will work with ICMCP
volunteer mentors on career readiness components such as resume
development, mock interviews and community networking.
About ICMCP
The International Consortium of Minority Cyber Professionals
(ICMCP) was created as a 501(c)3 non-profit association dedicated
to the academic and professional success of minority cybersecurity
students and professionals. The ICMCP tackles the 'great cyber
divide' with scholarship opportunities, diverse workforce
development, innovative outreach, and mentoring programs.
About the Training Providers
Security Innovation is a pioneer in software security.
Recognized 6x on the Gartner Magic Quadrant for computer-based
security training, its CMD+CTRL SaaS platform combines role-based
courses with hands-on cyber ranges to build skills that stick. With
over 3.5 million users, CMD+CTRL helps all software security
stakeholders address the risk of today's tech stacks – flawed
design, defenseless code, expanded attack surface, and
misconfigured deployments.
RangeForce creates accessible cybersecurity training experiences
for you and your team. Powered by the industry's first integrated
training platform and virtual cyber range, we help customers
operationalize a SaaS-based cybersecurity training program in
hours, saving up to 65% over traditional training and up to
$1M annually on hosted cyber ranges.
RangeForce is revolutionizing cybersecurity training with its
adaptive learning technology to better train and cross-train
DevOps, IT, and security professionals.
Media Contact
Leslie Kesselring, ICMCP, +1
503-358-1012, leslie@kesscomm.com
SOURCE ICMCP