Author: rescue@crimefire.in

As the threat of cyber attacks becomes a more pressing issue, C-suite executives are forced to take a look at their bottom line and take these challenges more seriously. In fact, a focus on cybersecurity needs to start in the boardroom, Steve Morgan, founder of Cybersecurity Ventures, argues.
“Do it now to protect your organization, not after a breach or hack to protect your reputation,” he previously told Fortune.
But cybersecurity talent extends beyond the boardroom. Companies need more entry-and mid-level cybersecurity workers, who can land six-figure salaries. While more experienced professionals are likely to earn higher salaries, many cybersecurity roles pay more than other tech jobs.
An information security analyst (typically an entry-level cybersecurity role) earned a median salary of $102,600 in 2021, U.S. Department of Labor Statistics figures show. Some cybersecurity salaries jumped by more than 16% between 2020 and 2021, to well over the six-figure mark, according to a 2021 report from Dice, a tech recruiting platform.
For professionals who earned their master’s degree in cybersecurity, took some online courses, or recently underwent upskilling at their company, Fortune compiled a list of a few of the highest-paying cybersecurity-related roles. While CISOs can bring home close to million-dollar paychecks, this list will give you a good idea of the type of baseline you can have for your earnings in the cybersecurity industry.
Average salary: $133,565 according to PayScale
Salary range: $89,000 to $188,000, according to PayScale
Highest-paying cities for cybersecurity managers: Reston, Virginia ($119,215), Washington, D.C. ($117,949), and Houston, Texas ($105,366), according to Indeed
Job description: Cybersecurity managers oversee channels that flow “into and out of an organization’s information network,” according to Tulane University’s School of Professional Advancement. They also oversee security systems and teams and watch for potential network vulnerabilities that would help prevent attacks.
Education: Many cybersecurity managers have earned a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, computer science, computer engineering, information assurance, or another tech-related field, according to Indeed. Some of these professionals also earn additional certifications.
Average salary: $99,985 according to Glassdoor
Salary range: $64,000 to $158,000
Highest-paying cities for cybersecurity engineers: New York ($67,954), Chicago ($63,601), and Denver ($62,616), according to Indeed
Job description: A cybersecurity engineer is in charge of preventing database and network attacks, according to ZipRecruiter, which means these professionals are tasked with using hardware, firewalls, and encryption to protect data. They both build security systems and protect a company’s IT infrastructure.
Education: Earning a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity or a related field is often needed for this job. Some cybersecurity engineers also choose to earn a master’s degree or a Ph.D. in the field if they’re interested in mid-to-upper management roles. 
Average salary: $118,734, according to ZipRecruiter
Salary range: $63,000 to $178,500
Highest-paying cities for penetration testers: San Francisco ($139,987), New York ($132,625), and Washington, D.C. ($130,772), according to Indeed
Job description: More commonly known as a “pen tester” or “ethical hacker,” penetration testers essentially simulate cyber attacks against company computer systems to look for vulnerabilities. They often try to breach large computer systems and also research and experiment with different types of attacks.
Education: Penetration testers typically at least work on developing tech skills and then go on to earn a degree in cybersecurity, information assurance, or a related field. They also often earn certifications in cybersecurity, including PenTest+. 
Average salary: $113,270, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Salary range: $56,000 to $141,000, according to Glassdoor
Highest-paying cities for cybersecurity analysts: Fort Meade, Maryland ($86,780), Reston, Virginia ($82,045), and Washington, D.C. ($81,173), according to Indeed
Job description: Cybersecurity analysts work to protect company hardware, software, and networks from cyberattacks. These professionals have to understand the organization’s tech infrastructure in order to be successful at their job. They also have to anticipate when cyber attacks could occur.
Education: Cybersecurity analysts often have a bachelor’s degree and/or master’s degree in cybersecurity or a related field. They also will earn certifications, including CISSP, which is one of the most coveted credentials in cybersecurity. 
Average salary: $140,109, according to Salary.com
Salary range: $113,975 to $168,578
Highest-paying cities for information security managers: New York ($92,685), Washington, D.C. ($91,391), and San Diego ($85,742), according to Indeed
Job description: Information security managers specialize in monitoring a company’s cybersecurity infrastructure and are responsible for protecting the organization’s digital assets and data. They work to protect assets like networks, computers, and other data.
Education: Information security managers usually have earned a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity or another IT-related degree. A master’s degree in the field can also help land this job, plus certifications including the CISSP, Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP), or the Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP).
See how the schools you’re considering fared in Fortune’s rankings of the best master’s degree programs in data science (in-person and online), nursing, computer science, cybersecurity, psychology, public health, and business analytics, as well as the doctorate in education programs MBA programs (part-time, executive, full-time, and online).

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Landing a job in cybersecurity can be fruitful—and rewarding. Many cybersecurity professionals bring home six-figure salaries, and leaders in the field can earn million-dollar paychecks. But there are currently hundreds of thousands of cybersecurity positions open in the U.S. 
The massive cybersecurity talent gap is largely a result of a lack of adequately or appropriately trained professionals. But companies must also better define their cybersecurity needs to secure talent, argues Jonathan Reiber, vice president of cybersecurity strategy and policy at AttackIQ. 
“There are a whole range of capabilities required in cybersecurity, from basic analyst skills to higher-level operational skills. I’m actually very confident in the country’s ability to meet those requirements over time,” he tells Fortune. “The challenge is much less to my mind about getting the right people hired—it’s more about what are the right jobs that we actually need.”
Reiber has seen the need for cybersecurity grow and evolve. During the Obama administration, he served as a speech writer and chief strategy officer for cyber policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In those roles, he advised Pentagon senior leadership, other high-ranking defense officials, and President Barack Obama on all matters of national security policy. 
During that time, Reiber wrote the first and second National Cyber Defense Strategies for the United States in 2010 and 2015, working closely with the Defense Department and Intelligence Community. He also had a writing grant at the University of California—Berkeley, where he was a senior fellow at the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity. 
Fortune sat down with Reiber to learn more about the needs cybersecurity companies have, the talent gap, and the type of education required for cybersecurity professionals today.
The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. 
Fortune: Tell me about the differences in cybersecurity concerns then vs now.
Reiber: The threats haven’t changed, the threat actors haven’t changed. What’s changed is the really transformative understanding of our national vulnerability in cyberspace brought about principally first by Russia’s interference in the U.S. election in 2016. That was a watershed moment for the public and the technology sector. And for the government to say, adversaries are looking for the weak underbellies—not just in our internet infrastructure—which we’d known prior to that, but that they were looking for underbellies in our society and ways to manipulate society and sow doubt and fear. And the interesting thing about what happened in 2016 was the social media companies provided this very weak underbelly because people would share unverified information. So disinformation became the hammer, but the scalpel was, in fact, still hacking. 
Since leaving government, I’ve focused on building technological capabilities and processes for organizations all over the world to improve their cybersecurity posture. At AttackIQ we do what’s called breach and attack simulation for automated security control validation. In cybersecurity we don’t focus on the adversary enough. We focus too much on things like compliance or regulatory standards that we’re trying to meet. That’s a rearranging of the deck chairs in a large way. Doesn’t actually prove to you that you’re ready. So there’s a process called penetration testing, which is kind of a strange phrase, but you’ll hire an outside firm to try and break into your defenses once or twice a year, at most.
And that’s not sufficient because if it only does it once or twice a year—people change, technologies change, things break down—you actually need to test once a week and some controls need to be tested every hour in some cases once a month. 
What is the importance of public-private partnerships in cybersecurity?
Often the government and the private sector have shared information about vulnerabilities that have been discovered. This is sort of a slower level process that existed before the real ramp in attacks, before the ramp in ransomware, before the Russian interference in the election, before there was more of a dawning awareness that cyberspace was a domain of military operations.
As the threat has gotten more serious, the government and the private sector have had to work together by combining the capabilities of the large platforms to remove actors from them, with the government’s abilities to do things like not just cyberspace op but also sanctions. 
A good case in point is when Russia invaded Ukraine, the first public-private actions that were taken were technology companies removed their services from Russia. The evolving nature of cyber of public-private partnership in cybersecurity can basically be said to deepen cooperation between companies and the government to share information, develop standards and best practices, design strategies, and then ultimately work together on combined voluntary operations to prevent hostile actors from conducting attacks in cyberspace.
What is your take on the cybersecurity talent gap? What are the most in-demand cybersecurity skills from your vantage?
The talent gap is something that I think a lot of folks when they first start working on cybersecurity like to think about and write about. There are roles that need to be filled, but we are going to be able to meet them. One of the things I’ve noticed is if you have cybersecurity capabilities, you will find a job. 
There are a whole range of capabilities required in cybersecurity, from basic analyst skills to higher-level operational skills. I’m actually very confident in the country’s ability to meet those requirements over time. The challenge is much less to my mind about getting the right people hired—it’s more about what are the right jobs that we actually need. 
If you think about risk, the most important thing to think about in cybersecurity is: What is my most valuable data? Have I protected that most valuable data? And am I prepared in the event that something goes wrong? Companies haven’t taken that approach to cybersecurity, and I think once they do, the question around the talent gap will begin to go away because we’ll be realigning the resources that we do have to focus on the most important problems. And that will lead to a reduction in risk.
How can companies evaluate the cybersecurity needs they have?
You should start by questioning what your most important mission is. If I’m a law firm, my most important mission is to be able to protect my client’s data. If I’m a retailer, my most important mission is to be able to protect my client’s credit card information. It’s often around protecting the data of the people that matter most. If you’re a logistics organization, it will be protecting the proprietary nature of the data around the logistics that I have. So you can then say, where is that information being stored? How is it being transmitted and what are the security controls that I have around it?
You have to make sure that that data has the appropriate levels of security around it. Ultimately, you need to make sure that that security works. 
What type of education should people entering the industry have?
I actually think the most important thing for people entering the cybersecurity workforce is to have a business education. If you want to rise up in cybersecurity, you’re not going to do it in the way that you want if you just have a technical education. It’s far more important to understand the needs of the business. 
Getting an MBA is actually a very good strategy for becoming a leader in cybersecurity. If you want to become a chief information security officer, you need to understand what the interests of divisions within your company are. If I work for a meat packaging company, I want to know about logistics. I want to know about plastic. I want to know about delivery. And those things are the components that drive the information technology needs of the business.
If you understand that, then you can begin to empathize with the people in the business so that when you’re providing services—which is what you’re doing as a security professional—you’re doing so within the construct of success of the overall organization and the shareholders and everybody involved.
Too often, I think people in cybersecurity will fetishize the technology and not focus enough on the human skills required for success within an organization. The actual hard work of being in an organization is much more of the soft skills, I think. I would urge people who are learning in cybersecurity not to leave out that aspect of the work if they try and gain a full perspective on how to lead and be effective.
What about cybersecurity continuing education?
Our academy is free and you can enroll right now in specific areas of breach and attack simulation, threat-informed defense, other capabilities like that. There’s a lot of good free education out there. I really think getting out of just the cyber universe is incredibly important and having good writing skills. Ultimately I do think getting a master’s degree in something that’s not just about technology will be helpful.
What are important soft skills to have for cybersecurity?
The ability to empathize with people and to understand how to build teams. Oftentimes if you’re trying to affect change with a new technology or a new process or build a new team in a company—and that’s a lot of what cybersecurity involves—you need to be able to build alliances and you need to be able to lead. If you’re just focused on being an operator, which is fine, you want to be an operator like an analyst, SOC [security operations center] operator, then you want to learn how to lead other SOC operators and other analysts. That requires leadership skills.
If you want to be a leader of the business, however, you need to expand your mentality far beyond security operations and include strategy and resources and budget and management and public affairs and all those different things. And that’s being a business leader. It depends on what somebody wants to do with themselves and their ambitions. I think no matter what, an ability to build alliances, an ability to build teams to empathize with people is all really important.
What advice do you have for anyone entering the industry?
You need to think about the field that you’re entering into less like an IT job and more like a national security job. And that can be very appealing, actually. It’s a blending of civilian life and technology and international politics because the government has a role to play in cybersecurity companies have a role to play, as do regulators at the state level.
In order to succeed, teams have to achieve what I say is combat readiness. They have to be ready to defend themselves right now against the adversary and to achieve that kind of readiness requires thinking about the adversary, focusing on the adversary and preparing for the threats that are going to come.
See how the schools you’re considering fared in Fortune’s rankings of the best master’s degree programs in data science (in-person and online), nursing, computer science, cybersecurity, psychology, public health, and business analytics, as well as the doctorate in education programs MBA programs (part-time, executive, full-time, and online).

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An official website of the United States government

On September 16, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a first-of-its-kind cybersecurity grant program specifically for state, local, and territorial (SLT) governments across the country.
Funding from the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) and the Tribal Cybersecurity Grant Program (TCGP) helps eligible entities address cybersecurity risks and threats to information systems owned or operated by—or on behalf of—state, local and territorial (SLLT) governments.  Through two distinct Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO), SLCGP and TCGP combined will distribute $1 billion over four years to support projects throughout the performance period of up to four years. This year, the TCGP will be released after SLCGP.
Through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021, Congress established the State and Local Cybersecurity Improvement Act, which established the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, appropriating $1 billion to be awarded over four years.
These entities face unique challenges in defending against cyber threats such as ransomware, as they lack the resources to defend against constantly changing threats. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), is taking steps to help stakeholders across the country understand the severity of their unique local cyber threats and cultivate partnerships to reduce related risks across the SLT enterprise.
Read below or print the SLCGP Fact Sheet and Frequently Asked Questions.
DHS will implement the SLCGP Grant Program through CISA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). While CISA will serve as the subject-matter expert in cybersecurity related issues, FEMA will provide grant administration and oversight for appropriated funds, including award and allocation of funds to eligible entities, financial management and oversight of funds execution.
The program is designed to put the funding where it is needed most: into the hands of local entities. States and territories will use their State Administrative Agencies (SAAs) to receive the funds from the Federal Government and then distribute the funding to local governments in accordance with state law/procedure.  This is the same way in which funding is distributed to local governments in the Homeland Security Grant Program.
Eligible entities can form their cybersecurity planning and can create Cybersecurity Plans (in accordance with the minimum requirements as stated in the State and Local Cybersecurity Improvement Act), which are a requirement for receiving grant funds. The state-level Cybersecurity Planning Committee leverages previously established advisory bodies that the states may have formed. The membership of the Cybersecurity Planning Committee will be up to each individual state, given they meet the requirements of the legislation and NOFO. States are encouraged to expand their cybersecurity planning committees to include additional expertise based on individual state needs. DHS provides a list of these suggested additional personnel in the NOFO. However, states are not limited to the added personnel on this list.
The Cybersecurity Planning Committee will identify and prioritize state-wide efforts, to include identifying opportunities to consolidate projects to increase efficiencies. Each eligible entity is required to submit confirmation that the committee is comprised of the required representatives. The eligible entity must also confirm that at least one-half of the representatives of the committee have professional experience relating to cybersecurity or information technology. For more information on the composition of the Cybersecurity Planning Committee, including how to leverage existing planning committees, please refer to Appendix B of the Notice of Funding Opportunity.
Cybersecurity Planning Committee membership shall include at least one representative from relevant stakeholders, including:
Not less than half of the representatives of the Cybersecurity Planning Committee must have professional experience relating to cybersecurity or information technology. Qualifications are determined by the states.
Eligible entities are given the flexibility to identify the specific public health and public education agencies and communities the Planning Committee members represent.
The Cybersecurity Plan is a statewide planning document that must be approved by the Cybersecurity Planning Committee and the CIO/CISO equivalent. The Plan will be subsequently updated in FY24 and 25. It must contain the following components:
SLCGP Email: SLCGPinfo@cisa.dhs.gov
TCGP Email: TCGPinfo@cisa.dhs.gov
Social Media Handle(s):  Visit CISA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram
(Please note other links will be added as they become available)
The following list of CISA resources are recommended products, services, and tools at no cost to the state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, as well as public and private sector critical infrastructure organizations.
State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program Fact Sheet
State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program Frequently Asked Questions
Cyber Resource Hub
Ransomware Guide (Sept. 2020)
Cyber Resilience Review
Free Cybersecurity Services and Tools
Cybersecurity Plan Template (click “Related Documents” tab to download)
To report an incident, visit www.cisa.gov/report
Key Links:
FEMA has assigned state-specific Preparedness Officers for the SLCGP. If you do not know your Preparedness Officer, please contact the Centralized Scheduling and Information Desk (CSID) by phone at (800) 368-6498 or by email at askcsid@fema.dhs.gov, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET.
CSID is a non-emergency comprehensive management and information resource developed by FEMA for grant stakeholders. CSID provides general information on all FEMA grant programs and maintains a comprehensive database containing key personnel contact information at the federal, state and local levels. When necessary, recipients will be directed to a federal point of contact who can answer specific programmatic questions or concerns. CSID can be reached by phone at (800) 368-6498 or by e-mail at askcsid@fema.dhs.gov, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET.
 
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Need CISA’s help but don’t know where to start? Contact the CISA Service desk.

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Cybersecurity Salary And Job Outlook – Forbes Advisor  Forbes
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Kellie Cowan reports
TAMPA, Fla. – Courtney Jackson could have picked just about any city to launch her cybersecurity business three years ago, but for her, Tampa had a lot to love about it.
"The weather, the fact that it's a tax-free state, and we just wanted somewhere different," said Jackson, the founder and CEO of Paragon Cyber Solutions. 
A Navy veteran, Jackson left the defense contract-heavy D.C. area in 2019 and took a leap of faith in Tampa. So far, she said, it's paid off. Her startup has expanded to eight full-time employees, all veterans like her, and she recently landed her first major contract with MacDill Air Force Base. 
"There are a lot of organizations that are very supportive of small businesses here," said Jackson. "The Chamber of Commerce is very active and very helpful. The mayor's office, different organizations with the military, like Hiring Our Heroes. Those organizations exist in other places but for me, coming from the D.C. area, I think Tampa is a different level of support." 
In 2021, Forbes ranked Tampa the No. 1 emerging tech city in the country. 
It's an industry that's expanded rapidly. Tech now rivals the finance sector as the city's top industry, according to Tampa Bay's Economic Development Council (TBEDC).
In the last decade companies in the IT sector have doubled in the Tampa Bay Area. According to JobsEQ data, 3,686 computer and software companies were registered in the region in 2021 versus 1,821 in 2011. At the same time, more than 24,000 tech industry jobs were added in Tampa Bay. 
READ: Mobile training unit helps Tampa companies combat cyberattacks
That's thanks in large part to the TBEDC, which said it's zeroed in on the tech industry.  
"It's an important sector, because they provide quality jobs," Steve Morey, senior vice president of economic development at the TBEDC.  "It's an industry that's here to stay and will lead to longer term success for this community."  
The TBEDC's courting of tech businesses is paying off. The region has seen an uptick in the number of technology companies relocating to the area in recent years. 
In 2021 three major companies set up headquarters in Tampa: Suzuki Marine, Signode, the packaging division of Crown Holdings, relocated from Chicago, and OPSWAT, a cybersecurity company, relocated from San Francisco.
Startups and new companies have also relocated or established their headquarters here, including NuMedTechs, HSP Group and Shufflrr.
This year, AFC Logistics relocated its HQ from Chicago to Tampa, and UK-based Clarify established its U.S. operations in Tampa as well. Other companies announcing expansions to Tampa include Avanade, Branch, and CoinFlip.
Jackson said she's regularly contacted by industry peers about her choice to build her business in Tampa. 
"I get those questions a lot," said Jackson. "Tampa is an amazing place to start a business. I think it's a new tech hub now." 
The city has also become a training hub for tech workers.  Both the University of Tampa and the University of South Florida have rapidly expanded their technology and cybersecurity degree programs.  
"The University of South Florida offers the most certificate and degree programs specific to cybersecurity in the state," said Katie Whitaker, associate director of cyber outreach for Cyber Florida at USF.  
The University of Tampa is currently building a six-story, 105,000 square foot building to house all of its information technology related programs. 
Technology degrees have become extremely popular areas of study at both universities. 
"We don't have a problem filling seats, that's for sure, because it is a very lucrative industry," said Whitaker. "A lot of students, even at the bachelor's level, are finding employment before they even complete their program. And the starting salaries tend to be in the six digits."  
With an expanding local talent pool, tax-friendly business environment and attractive quality of life, industry experts believe even more tech companies will be inclined to make the move to Tampa Bay. 
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The cybersecurity skills shortage continues to present multiple challenges and have repercussions for organizations. The skills gap can be addressed through training and certifications to increase employees’ education.
The talent shortage and a variety of specialized fields within cybersecurity have inspired many to reskill and join the industry. One way to get more knowledge is to take advantage of online learning opportunities. Below you can find a list of free online cybersecurity courses that can help further your career.

Instructor: Dan Boneh, Professor
In this course you will learn the inner workings of cryptographic systems and how to correctly use them in real-world applications. The course begins with a detailed discussion of how two parties who have a shared secret key can communicate securely when a powerful adversary eavesdrops and tampers with traffic. You will examine many deployed protocols and analyze mistakes in existing systems. The second half of the course discusses public-key techniques that let two parties generate a shared secret key. Throughout the course participants will be exposed to many exciting open problems in the field and work on optional programming projects.

Instructor: C. Edward Chow, Professor
In this course you will learn the history of DDoS attacks, analyze Mirai IoT malware, and perform source code analysis. You’ll learn about the intrusion tolerance paradigm with proxy-based multipath routing for DDoS defense. By developing and deploying such a new security mechanism, you can improve the performance and reliability of the system at the same time and it does not have to be just an overhead. By the end of this course, you should be able to analyze new DDoS malware, collect forensic evidence, deploy firewall features to reduce the impact of DDoS on your system, and develop strategies for dealing with future DDoS attacks.

Instructor: Gang Qu, Associate Professor
In this course, you will study security and trust from the hardware perspective. Upon completing the course, students will understand the vulnerabilities in current digital system design flow and the physical attacks on these systems. They will learn that security starts from hardware design and be familiar with the tools and skills to build secure and trusted hardware.

Instructor: Michael Hicks, Professor
This course explores the foundations of software security. You will learn about software vulnerabilities and attacks that exploit them, and consider defenses that prevent or mitigate these attacks, including advanced testing and program analysis techniques. Importantly, you’ll take a “build security in” mentality, considering techniques at each phase of the development cycle that can be used to strengthen the security of software systems. Successful learners in this course typically have completed sophomore/junior-level undergraduate work in a technical field, have some familiarity with programming, ideally in C/C++ and one other “managed” program language (like ML or Java), and have prior exposure to algorithms.

Instructor: Philippe De Ryck, Founder, Pragmatic Web Security
This course provides an overview of the most common attacks, and illustrates fundamental countermeasures that every web application should implement. Throughout the course, you will gain insights into the threats that modern web applications face. You’ll build an understanding of common attacks and their countermeasures; not only in theory, but also in practice. You’ll be provided with an overview of current best practices to secure web applications. Although no previous security knowledge is necessary to join this course, it will help to be familiar with the basic concepts behind web applications, including HTTP, HTML, and JavaScript.

Instructor: Jacob Horne, Cybersecurity Consultant
In this course, students are introduced to the field of cyber security with a focus on the domain of security & risk management. Topics include the fundamental concepts and goals of cybersecurity (the CIA triad), security governance design, the NIST cybersecurity framework, relevant laws and regulations, and the roles of policies, strategies, and procedures in cybersecurity governance.

Instructor: Greg Williams, Director of Networks and Infrastructure
This course explores what it takes to design and build the server side of Windows in an enterprise environment. This course will explore everything from Windows Server installation to configuring users, to hardening the server operating system itself. The first week of this course provides an overview of how Windows operates in an enterprise environment and what it may look like in the real world. Week 2 will show you how Windows users interact with the system. Week 3 will explore authorization in a Windows environment. Week 4 explores built in security features of Windows and demonstrates how to use each technology effectively and in what circumstances you would use what technology for what purpose.

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In an increasingly modernized and interconnected world, the cybersecurity risk continues to grow, and our nation’s infrastructure is not impervious. For states looking to elevate their cybersecurity posture, the IIJA offers numerous avenues of support to make these improvements.
by Casey Dolen and Glenn Grimshaw
In November 2021, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law, paving the way for a once-in-a-generation investment in America’s infrastructure. The passage of the IIJA secured about $1.2 trillion in funding toward nearly 400 new and existing programs, including programs seeking to improve the country’s roads and bridges, broadband network, energy network, port facilities, and to improve the resiliency of infrastructure and communities.
In an increasingly modernized and interconnected world, the cybersecurity risk continues to grow, and our nation’s infrastructure is not impervious. A disruption to the critical communications technology, transportation and utilities on which citizens rely can have sweeping economic and physical consequences. The IIJA recognizes this by including a number of cybersecurity-specific programs, as well as allowing spending from numerous other programs on cybersecurity preparedness and response, which can be integrated into other infrastructure investments.
For states looking to elevate their cybersecurity posture, the IIJA offers numerous avenues of support to make these improvements. Such programs can be distinguished between 1) those that directly provide funding to address cyber risks and threats, 2) those in which expenditures on cybersecurity-related investments are classified as eligible uses. These IIJA programs are in addition to programs established under other statues, including the Department of Energy’s Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response (CESER) Research, Development, and Demonstration program, which has announced a Fiscal Year 2022 funding opportunity.
The following guide provides an overview of potential IIJA grants overseen by various federal agencies that state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) entities may wish to take advantage of to combat the heightened global cyber threat.
The IIJA includes funding for new and existing cybersecurity-specific programs that focus on strengthening cyber systems and defense against future attacks, some of which provide opportunities to SLTT entities. Key programs are outlined below.
NGA is pleased to announce the creation of its Governors’ Cybersecurity Policy Advisors Network, which will serve as a forum to share ideas and troubleshoot challenges with colleagues from other states, connect advisors with valuable resources and technical assistance, and provide opportunities to hear from subject-matter experts via timely workshops.
Governors’ offices are invited to designate a representative to participate in this network. This individual could be a policy advisor in a Governor’s office who handles the Governor’s cybersecurity portfolio, a state cybersecurity advisor, a cybersecurity office/division director, or another official of the Governor’s choosing. The intent is that this individual can speak to the Governor’s priorities as they relate to cybersecurity. Offices are welcome to designate more than one representative as long as the Governor’s office has recommended their participation.
NGA asks offices to send contact information for the designated participant(s) to Ann Corcoran (acorcoran@nga.org). Questions about the network can be directed to Steve Fugelsang (sfugelsang@nga.org) and/or Casey Dolen (cdolen@nga.org).
The IIJA also includes several programs across a range of agencies which, while not cybersecurity infrastructure-focused, allow for investment in cybersecurity measures as an eligible use to support program objectives. A number of these programs are outlined below.
Please direct any questions regarding the content of this memo to Glenn Grimshaw (ggrimshaw@nga.org) or Casey Dolen (cdolen@nga.org). A full list of programs that provide funding for cybersecurity measures and further details of each can be found in NGA’s sortable and searchable IIJA program Tracker, which is located on the NGA’s IIJA Implementation Resources page. It may also be useful to consult the White House’s Guidebook to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Governments, and Other Partners, or the State Fact Sheets Highlighting the Impact of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Nationwide.

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The cybersecurity skills and talent gap are a worsening problem in the U.S.—and across the world. In fact, 80% of organizations globally have suffered one or more data breaches during the past year that the company could attribute to a lack of cybersecurity skills and/or awareness, according to a recent report from Fortinet.
“The skills gap isn’t just a talent shortage challenge, but it’s also severely impacting business, making it a top concern for executive leaders worldwide,” Sandra Wheatley, senior vice president of marketing for threat intelligence and influencer communications at Fortinet, said in a statement. 
Since 2013, the number of unfilled cybersecurity jobs has grown 350% from 1 million to 3.5 million, according to a 2022 report from Cybersecurity Ventures. There’s many ways to enter the burgeoning cybersecurity industry, whether it be pursuing a master’s degree, taking upskilling courses through an employer, or earning certifications. 
“There are different archetypes of how people find their way into security,” Ryan LaSalle, head of Accenture Security’s North America practice, told Fortune in a recent interview. ”We will take a chance on people all the time. We’ve done it over and over again when we find people that we think have a real potential in security.”
If you’re looking to dip your toes into the cybersecurity world without dedicating too much time or money, many U.S. universities have free online courses that are available to anyone, even non-students. Fortune rounded up five of them to help you get your search started. All universities featured below have appeared on top graduate degree lists from Fortune, including cybersecurity, MBA, data science, and business analytics.
Cyberattacks continue to become more common; in fact, between 2020 and 2021, the number of attacks per year rose 31% to 270, according to a 2021 report from Accenture. The average number of successful attacks per company was 29.
People who are interested in learning more about cybersecurity threats, vulnerability, and risks may want to check out the four-week, online course hosted by New York University. The course, Introduction to Cyber Attacks, also covers basic cybersecurity risk analysis and basic security frameworks. The next offering of the course begins on Sept. 5, 2022, and is taught by Edward G. Amoroso, a researcher and professor with NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering. Amoroso is also founder and CEO of TAG Cyber, a cybersecurity advisory and consultancy. 
Cryptography helps provide secure communication between only a sender and the intended recipient. In other words, this important cybersecurity measure helps prevent adversary interference.
In Cryptography I, students learn the inner workings of cryptographic systems, and how to use them in practice. Participants in this course, hosted by Stanford University, will also have the opportunity to work on practice problems in the field. The course takes about 23 hours to complete over a seven-week period and has flexible deadlines for assignments. Participants who complete the course can share their certification on LinkedIn. Cryptography I is taught by Dan Boneh, a cryptography and electrical engineering professor at Stanford. He also heads up the applied cryptography group and co-directs the computer security lab at Stanford. 
The Hardware Security course offered by the University of Maryland is part of the school’s online cybersecurity specialization program, which covers cybersecurity fundamentals, hardware, and cryptography. This class focuses on understanding digital system design flow vulnerabilities and physical attacks to these systems.
Taught by Gang Qu, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, Hardware Security also covers the notion that security stems from hardware design and teaches students how to use tools to strengthen and secure hardware. The class takes about 12 hours to complete over seven weeks. Students who enroll in the cybersecurity specialization program can earn a certificate upon completion.
At the University of Michigan, students can enroll in Internet History, Technology, and Security, which offers an overview of the basics of network technology and how the internet impacts our lives, culture, and society. The course also covers the beginning of the Internet, including how it was made, who made it, and how it works. Other course topics include Internet commercialization and growth and transport control protocol.
During the last two weeks of the 10-week course, students also learn about web security and encrypting to better protect data. Charles Russell Severance, a clinical professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, teaches the course, which takes a total of about 15 hours to complete. 
Western Governors University is ranked by Fortune as having one of the top online cybersecurity master’s programs in the U.S. Network and Security Foundations covers the components of computer networks and basic security concepts associated with networks. In this intro-level course, students also get an introduction to network security, threat, risk mitigation, and security management concepts and practices.
The course is taught by Gerri Light, program chair of WGU’s College of IT, and Michelle Watt, a WGU instructor. The self-paced course takes up to 10 hours each week to complete over an eight-week period. WGU also offers an unlimited-access version of the course for $166.08, which allows students to review materials after the course ends. Otherwise, students can complete the course for free with limited access to materials just during the enrollment period.
See how the schools you’re considering fared in Fortune’s rankings of the best master’s degree programs in data science (in-person and online), nursing, computer science, cybersecurity, psychology, public health, and business analytics, as well as the doctorate in education programs MBA programs (part-time, executive, full-time, and online).

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A man looking tired and stressed out while sitting at his computer.
Cybersecurity staff are feeling burnout and stressed to the extent that many are considering leaving their jobs. 
According to research by VMware, 47% of cybersecurity incident responders say they’ve experienced burnout or extreme stress over the past 12 months.  
While that’s slightly down compared with 51% the previous year, unsurprisingly the percentage of people who say the stress of working in cybersecurity has made them think about leaving their jobs has slightly increased. 
Of this group, 69% say stress and burnout has resulted in them considering their position, compared with 65% in 2021. 
Cybersecurity can be stressful work; not only do staff need to stay on top of threats posed by cyber criminals, ransomware gangs and even nation-state sponsored hacking campaigns, they also need to ensure their users are equipped with the right tools needed to stay safe – often while working with a restricted cybersecurity budget and a wider team who don’t always understand what they do.
On top of that, there’s also the challenge of managing security vulnerabilities, particularly when significant new zero-day exploits emerge and get used by hackers – according to the survey, 62% of respondents encountered a zero-day exploit in the last 12 months, compared to 51% during the previous year. 
Meanwhile, two thirds said the number of cyber attacks has increased since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – something which cybersecurity agencies warned was a possibility when the war started.   
SEE: A winning strategy for cybersecurity (ZDNET special report) 
And all of this is happening while many cybersecurity teams are still dealing with the shift towards hybrid working, which while beneficial for many, also brings additional cybersecurity challenges which criminals will attempt to exploit. 
If these pressures are pushing cybersecurity employees away from their jobs, that could have negative repercussions for everyone because fewer cybersecurity staff means it could make it easier for cyber criminals to breach networks – and remain inside them without being detected.  
In order to help combat burnout, many businesses are implementing strategies designed to help cybersecurity personnel manage the balance between their work life and their home life.  According to 72% of respondents, the most helpful one of these is flexible hours, while investment in further education and access to therapy and coaching are also listed as helpful. 
“Broadly speaking, companies are taking the right steps when it comes to easing burnout among cybersecurity professionals,” said Rick McElroy, principal cybersecurity strategist at VMware 
“But solving this issue isn’t a simple, one-time fix. Now is the time to really double down on wellness efforts, such as flexible hours, more education, and coaching and therapy,” he added. 
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In this round up, we reveal which threat vectors cyber security experts believe will rise to prominence in 2023, and they offer their advice on how best to combat them.
When asked in mid-2022 by Cyber Security Hub which threat vectors posed the most dangerous threat to their organizations, 75 percent of cyber security professionals said social engineering and phishing. Since the survey closed, multiple organizations such as Dropbox, Revolut, Twilio, Uber, LastPass and Marriott International have suffered from such attacks further highlighting the importance to cyber security practitioners of staying aware of phishing threat.
Read on to find out which threat vectors businesses should be aware of and why it is important to ask those at the frontline of preventing and mitigating them, namely cyber security professionals, for their forecasts.  
Market research and consulting firm Acumen Research and Consulting has predicted that the global market for artificial intelligence (AI)-based cybersecurity products is estimated to be worth US$133.8bn by 2030, a whopping 798 percent increase on the market’s $14.9bn value in 2021.
Research by Cyber Security Hub supports this prediction, with almost one in five (19 percent) cyber security professionals reporting that their companies are investing in cyber security with AI and automation. As automation and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) increases, however, so too will the use of cyber attacks against these digital solutions.  
As AI and machine learning has developed, it has been integrated more fully into smart devices, from lightbulbs and speakers to cars. With a predicted 75.4 billion Internet of Things connected devices installed worldwide by 2025, it is no surprise that these smart devices are predicted to increase as a cyber attack target throughout 2023.
Tina Grant, quality assessor at UK-based aerospace company Aerospheres forecasts that cyber attacks targeting smart devices will predominantly affect autonomous devices with multiple points of attack, for example smart cars.
Grant says: “Today’s automobiles come equipped with automatic features including airbags, power steering, motor timing, door locks, and adaptive cruise control aid systems. These vehicles use Bluetooth and WiFi to connect, which exposes them to a number of security flaws or hacking threats. 
“With more autonomous vehicles on the road in 2023, it is anticipated that attempts to take control of them or listen in on conversations will increase. Automated or self-driving cars employ an even more complicated process that demands stringent cybersecurity precautions,” she explains.
The dangers of this have already been explored by David Columbo, a cyber security researcher and founder of cyber security software company Columbo Tech. 
So, I now have full remote control of over 20 Tesla’s in 10 countries and there seems to be no way to find the owners and report it to them…

In a series of tweets in January 2022, Columbo explained that he had hacked into and gained remote access to “over 20 Tesla’s[sic] in 10 countries” allowing him to “remotely run commands on 25+ Tesla‘s[sic] in 13 countries without the owners’ knowledge”. While Columbo did not have “full remote control” – meaning he could not remotely control steering, acceleration or braking – he noted that even some remote-control access was dangerous. 
To demonstrate this, Columbo joked about pranking the affected Tesla owners by playing Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ through their speakers. He then acknowledged that while this may seem innocuous, the ability to remotely play loud music, open windows or doors or flash a car’s headlights repeatedly could put not only the driver’s but other motorists’ lives in danger especially if the car was driving at speed or in a busy area.  
Even if malicious actors can only gain partial control of remote devices, it could have potentially devastating consequences.
Phishing attacks soared in 2022, with international consortium and fraud prevention group the Anti-Phishing Working Group recording a total of 3,394,662 phishing attacks in the first three quarters of 2022. There were 1,025,968 attacks in Q1, 1,097,811 attacks in Q2 and 1,270,883 attacks in Q3, with each quarter breaking the record as the worst quarter APWG has ever observed.
Ernie Moran, general manager of automated prepaid card fraud protection software Arden at financial protection service Brightwell, believes that 2023 will continue to see a rise in phishing attacks due to more people turning to cyber crime for financial gain.
“The downturn in the economy this year will almost certainly lead to an increase in individuals taking additional risks to commit fraud in 2023, but many financial organizations are still unprepared to identify and take action on a coordinated and targeted fraud attack,” he explains.
Moran also predicts that ecommerce sites will be hit particularly hard by this, as they are vulnerable to Bank Identifying Number (BIN) attacks which see fraudsters take incomplete card details gained during phishing or social engineering attacks (i.e. the first six numbers of a bank card) and use software to randomly generate the rest of the information needed. The malicious actors will then use ecommerce sites to test whether the details are correct and/or if the cards are active. 
Moran concludes that there is “no evidence” that those in the acquiring side of the payments ecosystem will make the changes needed in 2023 to limit the ability of fraudsters to take advantage of these vulnerabilities.
Teri Radichel, author of Cybersecurity for Executives in the Age of Cloud and CEO of cyber security training and consultancy company 2nd Sight Lab, says that is clear that attacks leveraging phishing and credentials are not going away.
When building their security strategy and threat defense protocols, Radichel suggests that companies “use a layered security approach to prevent damage if and when attackers compromise credentials”, both to defend against and mitigate these attacks. Additionally, Radichel notes that attackers are moving beyond basic web attacks to more sophisticated forms of attacks by leveraging automation and cloud environments. 
The cost of global cyber crime has been estimated by market and consumer data company Statista to reach $10.5tr by 2025. With blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis reporting that cyber criminals have stolen more than $3bn in crypto-based cyber attacks between January and October of 2022 alone, cyber crime is becoming an incredibly lucrative business for hackers.
As cyber crime becomes more established as a revenue source for malicious actors, some are pivoting to offer their services to a wider community for a fee. Crime-as-a-service allows bad actors to offer their hacking services to others for a fee. An example of this was seen in 2022 when a Meta employee was fired for allegedly using their employee privileges to hijack and allow unauthorized access to Facebook profiles, charging her ‘customers’ thousands of dollars in Bitcoin to do so.
Adam Levin, cyber security expert and host of cybercrime podcast What the Hack with Adam Levin, believes that platforms that allow hackers to offer their services will be the number-one security threat in 2023. Levin explains that this is because criminals are using “increasingly sophisticated software created by threat actors” and selling this software on a subscription-based model for use to scam both consumers and businesses. According to Levin, the most common as-a-service crimeware products are phishing and ransomware. 
As-a-service software is so dangerous, he explains, as it “allows anyone, regardless how tech savvy, to conduct phishing, ransomware, distributed denial of service and other cyber attacks”. He further predicts that in 2023, “criminal software enterprises will continue to threaten enterprises of any size”, as seen in 2022 with the attacks levelled against Microsoft, Dropbox, Medibank, and Uber and Rockstar Games to name a few.
Levin forecasts that the cyber-crime syndicates behind current as-a-service platforms are set to grow over the next 12 months as “they can make more money enabling entry-level cyber criminals to commit crimes than they can directly targeting victims and with less risk”.
When considering how to defend against as-a-service attacks, Levin reassures that these types of attacks can be mitigated with “regular cyber security training, penetration testing, the use of multifactor authentication and implementation of zero-trust architecture”.
On June 1, 2022, a Google Cloud Armour user was targeted with the biggest Direct Denial of Service (DDoS) attack ever recorded. The user was hit with HTTPS for a duration of 69 minutes in an attack that had 5,256 source IPs from 132 countries contributing to it. Google reported it as the biggest Layer 7 DDoS attack reported to date, saying that 76 percent larger than the previous record. In a blog post written by Emil Kiner, senior product manager for Cloud Armor, and Satya Konduru, technical lead, both at Google, the attack was likened to “receiving all the daily requests to Wikipedia…in just 10 seconds”.
With such large DDoS attacks now possible, hackers are taking advantage of the disruption caused to levy multi-vector attacks. While companies fight against one threat vector, they will be launching another against them.
Aaron Drapkin, senior writer at technology news site tech.co, explains that this will give way to rise in “triple extortion attempts” in 2023. In these attacks, he explains, ransomware gangs will “not only attempt to encrypt and then exfiltrate data and demand a ransom, but also orchestrate other types of attacks, such as DDoS attack or threatening victims’ associates with data leaks”. 
Drapkin warns that these multi-attack vectors could become more dangerous if coupled with the threat vector prediction made by Adam Levin – cyber crime as-a-service. This is because “if the technology or instructions needed to orchestrate these additional cyber attacks are incorporated into commercially available Ransomware-as-a-Service packages” sophisticated attacks could be launched by a range of malicious actors, instead of a select few groups.
As the global workforce continues to work in an increasingly remote or hybrid capacity, the need for cloud migration has become clear. Research by video conferencing software company Owl Labs has shown that, globally, the amount of workers choosing to work remotely has increased by 24 percent.
As companies migrate some or all of their assets to the cloud, the need for cloud security has increased. When surveyed by Cyber Security Hub, one in four (25 percent) of cyber security professionals said that their companies were investing in cloud security capabilities. 
This investment will be needed in the year ahead, says founder and CEO of Abdul Rahim, founder and CEO of technology advice site Software Test Tips. He explains that while being its biggest selling point to businesses, the ability of cloud servers to allow users to access a company’s applications, files and resources from anywhere in the world is also its biggest vulnerability.
Matt Kerr, CEO and founder of appliance repair site Appliance Geeked, notes that while the cloud-based data storage can be equipped with cyber security measures to prevent data breaches, if a company hosts a large amount of valuable customer data, even a partial breach can have far-reaching negative effects. This is because a company’s cloud storage contains “enormous hoards of extraordinarily valuable data”, even if an attacker only gains access to a fraction of this data, they can do real damage with it.
An example of this is the Revolut data breach seen in September 2022. Despite Revolut reporting that the breach affected just 0.16 percent of its customers, in reality this translated into the personal data of more than 50,000 users being accessed.
Aerospheres’ Tina Grant explains that keeping cloud storage secure requires companies to regularly review and improve their security procedures. She says cloud storage programs like Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure may have strong security measures in place but mistakes on the client end can lead to dangerous malware and online scams, which can result in a cloud-storage breach.  
With the advent of cloud migration, many companies are incorporating third-party software solutions into their company infrastructure. Many cyber security professionals are wary of the risks incurred by this decision, however, with more than a third (36 percent) of cyber security professionals reporting to Cyber Security Hub that supply chain/third party risks are a top threat to their organization’s cyber security.
David Attard, digital consultant, web designer and data handler at web design company Collectiveray, believes data breaches due to third-party access will rise in 2023. He explains that this will especially affect companies in the healthcare, education and manufacturing industries as they are especially vulnerable to these attack vectors because of their “lack of security around third-party accesses”, and this is not likely to change in 2023.
“These industries don’t have anyone assigned to manage third-party risk, still, only about 39 percent of the manufacturing industries have implemented third-party security. The number of cyber attacks is only to increase unless practices like ‘least privilege access’ are carried out,” he continues.
This was seen in October 2022, after the source code for car manufacturer Toyota was revealed to have been posted on GitHub. The code was posted following the mishandling of company data by a third-party development contractor and was visible between December 2017 and September 15, 2022. This may have led to malicious actors accessing the personal data of 296,019 customers.
Human error is predicted to remain a major factor in cyber security threats for 2023. In 2022, research by the World Economic Forum found that 95 percent of cyber security issues could be traced back to human error. Likewise, almost a third of cyber security professionals (30 percent) told Cyber Security Hub that lack of cyber security expertise was the number one threat to cyber security at their organization.
Texas-based cybersecurity and national security expert Charles Denyer cited Verizon’s 2022 Data Breaches Investigations Report, noting that “one [in] four [82 percent] data breaches can be attributed to human error”. 
As a result of this, Denyer says: “When ensuring the safety and security of an organizations digital assets”, cyber security awareness training “is still the very best and most valuable return on investment.”  
He says that this is because the more knowledgeable and aware users are, the better the chances an organization has in protecting its assets.
Throughout 2022, a number of cyber attacks by nation states, including those of Iran against Albania, those of Russia against Ukraine and Montenegro, or the unidentified attack on the New Zealand government. 
Ryan Kirkwood, CTO of investment company Freedom Dividend, says cyber attacks by nation-states, such as the Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee in the US in 2016, are also a major threat to businesses.
In 2023, businesses should expect to see more cyber attacks by nation-states as these types of attacks become more common and more sophisticated.

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