(Redmond, WA, Friday, October 29, 2021) —Microsoft has announced a new national campaign to help skill 250,000 people in cybersecurity by 2025—starting with community college and nonprofit partnerships—to cut the U.S. talent gap by 50 percent.  This builds on the company’s recently announced $20B commitment to invest in cybersecurity solutions and technical offerings.

As documented in Microsoft’s annual Digital Defense Report, cyberattacks are growing and becoming more sophisticated, threatening not only our businesses but our schools and students, healthcare services and our daily lives. Compounding this challenge is a significant lack of skilled cybersecurity professionals to defend digital systems. There are currently 464,200 open jobs in the U.S. that require cybersecurity skills, which accounts for six percent of all open jobs in the country. Many of these jobs do not require a four-year college degree and will instead accept an industry-recognized certificate or an associate degree from a community college.

Through conversations with administrators, faculty and students at 14 community colleges in six states, Microsoft learned about what it will take to skill more people from more backgrounds and help them succeed in cybersecurity careers. It became evident that the biggest barriers facing community colleges are access to classroom ready materials, teacher training and student aid.

As part of its four-year campaign, Microsoft will leverage technology, financial resources, learning materials, connections and its voice to close this gap. The initial commitment will:

• Make curriculum available free of charge to all of the nation’s public community colleges.
• Provide training for new and existing faculty at 150 community colleges.

Provide scholarships and supplemental resources to 25,000 low-income students.

Building on the Microsoft Skills for Jobs global initiative, the company intends to quickly grow its national campaign to involve more companies, more nonprofits, governments at the federal, state and local levels, and industry volunteers. It will also work to scale efforts to support other institutions and four-year colleges, including the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic-Serving Institutions. To learn more, visit here.

Soundbites — Naria Santa Lucia, General Manager, Digital Inclusion and US Community Engagement, Microsoft Philanthropies

• THE GROWING THREAT OF CYBERATTACKS IS OUTPACING AMERICA’S ABILITY TO FILL ESSENTIAL CYBERSECURITY JOBS. THAT’S WHY MICROSOFT IS LAUNCHING A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN WITH U.S. COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND NONPROFIT PARTNERS TO HELP SKILL AND RECRUIT 250,000 PEOPLE INTO THE CYBERSECURITY WORKFORCE BY 2025. THIS AIMS TO CLOSE HALF OF THE COUNTRY’S CYBERSECURITY WORKFORCE GAP.
• THROUGH CONVERSATIONS WITH COLLEGE LEADERS AND STUDENTS ACROSS SIX DIFFERENT STATES, WE LEARNED THAT THEY NEED THREE THINGS TO HELP CLOSE THE CYBERSECURITY WORKFORCE GAP: TEACHING MATERIALS, FACULTY TRAINING AND STUDENT FINANCIAL SUPPORT. WE’RE MAKING CURRICULUM AVAILABLE FREE OF CHARGE TO ALL PUBLIC COMMUNITY COLLEGES; WE’RE HELPING TO TRAIN NEW AND EXISTING FACULTY AT 150 COMMUNITY COLLEGES, AND WE’RE PROVIDING SCHOLARSHIPS AND RESOURCES TO 25,000 LOW-INCOME STUDENTS AS THEY PURSUE CYBERSECURITY CREDENTIALS.
• THE CURRENT CYBERSECURITY WORKFORCE IS NOTABLY LACKING IN DIVERSITY. 82.4 PERCENT OF THE COUNTRY’S CYBERSECURITY JOBS ARE HELD BY MEN AND 80 PERCENT BY PEOPLE WHO ARE WHITE. WE NEED TO BUILD A CYBERSECURITYWORKFORCE THAT IS BOTH LARGER AND MORE DIVERSE. COMMUNITY COLLEGES ARE UNIQUELY SITUATED TO HELP THE COUNTRY DO BOTH.