(ISC)² announced a partnership with CyberUSA, a nonprofit collaborative community of states focused on a common mission of enabling innovation, education, workforce development, enhanced cyber readiness and resilience, and connecting the cyber ecosystem of the U.S. and its allies.

(ISC)² will join CyberUSA in its efforts to coordinate public and private efforts across different states and communities to ensure American leadership in cybersecurity by shaping the education, innovation and policy landscapes at both the state and federal levels.

(ISC)² recently took part in the CyberUSA 2019 conference in College Park, MD, where John McCumber, director of cybersecurity advocacy, North America, for (ISC)² delivered a presentation outlining the findings of the (ISC)² 2018 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, which found that the industry is lacking 2.93 million qualified professionals globally. North America alone accounts for nearly one half million of this shortage.

As part of its partnership with CyberUSA, (ISC)² will help to jointly promote the importance of having trained and certified cybersecurity professionals on staff within state and local government agencies and in the private sector, and will advocate for the information security profession and the professional standing of its members. (ISC)² will also support a clearer career development process that can lead cybersecurity professionals through a career path.

“One of the biggest challenges the Department of Homeland Security has faced in the past is tackling the logistics of arming state and local governments with a consistent and repeatable platform for the delivery of cybersecurity training and information sharing,” said McCumber. “This is where CyberUSA is making such a profound impact, and we are honored to partner with this community and further the goals of the DHS in certifying qualified cybersecurity professionals and providing training on a wide variety of critical topics, including securing our election processes.”

“Training and certification in the cybersecurity industry is a tall task as technologies, adversaries and threats continually evolve, but what we’re trying to do is to systematically enable state and local governments and private sector companies to prepare and defend themselves against attacks by building their workforces with the right set of relevant cyber skills,” said Phillip Bond, executive director of CyberUSA.

CyberUSA’s Phillip Bond will provide a keynote address at the (ISC)² Secure Summit DC 2019 on April 24 at the Washington Hilton Hotel.