Paid training, placement efforts ease the need for cybersecurity hires

Hacker breaches targeting corporate and personal data are getting worse despite businesses and private users adopting safer computing strategies, highlighting gaps in cyber security skills. Developing the Cybersecurity Workforce Nukudo Addresses these gaps by providing specialized training that leads to guaranteed employment in computer security.

The United States is experiencing an increase in major data breaches, including the theft of all U.S. Social Security numbers, Chinese government attacks on Internet providers, and Iranian attacks on presidential campaigns. The incidents highlight the country’s cybersecurity challenges, including a 400,000-expert shortage reported by the White House, despite massive hiring efforts.

For example, a hacker known as the USDoD allegedly stole personal data from National Public Data, an online background check service provider, including the full names and former and full addresses of 2.9 billion people dating back 30 years. In recent months, hackers backed by the Chinese government have infiltrated US Internet service providers to spy on users.

Two ever-present obstacles enterprises face in locking down their cybersecurity are the lack of cyber skills among existing IT staff and the lack of qualified job candidates to bolster cybersecurity teams. Michael Blair, managing director of NukuDo, has started a training program to address both issues.

Blair offers qualified candidates a six-month paid training program for $4,000 per month, a 401(k), and 100% coverage of an individual’s health care costs. The program is followed by direct employment for three years. The package guarantees hands-on learning experience and open employment to a wide range of applicants, including recent high school graduates.

“We are trying to revolutionize cyber security training. Our program is about doing something uniquely different,” Blair told TechNewsWorld.

Proven training models extend beyond academia

The training facility, located in San Antonio, is designed to prepare cybersecurity trainees for success at a level that would not be available to future employers if recruited from a traditional academic program, Blair explained.

With a background in recruiting and training companies in the US, Blair had first-hand exposure to what he calls a sister company based in Singapore, Red Alpha, which started four years ago. Nukudo’s first training class began in March.

Blair shared a recent conversation with a CISO, saying he thinks a very important part of his workforce can only follow a checklist of to-dos when it comes to dealing with cybersecurity.

“It’s not really what the industry needs,” he said of filling the numerous digital security vacancies.

The training program he developed from Red Alpha addresses that need. In Singapore, the facility has approximately 180 people who have successfully worked through its programs over the past four years. The amazing record of the facility is that it has placed 100% of graduates.

Blair said he had 5,000 applicants for his first training class in March. From that pool, he hired about 15 people. With the completion of the training cycle, all these trainees are in the process of getting industry certification.

“So our acceptance rate is less than 1%, but that’s really important because I can find the right people in that pool to invest,” he offered.

Aligning training, education, and employment

Blair believes this cybersecurity training method works because it aligns three separate entities. There is the individual who wants to enter the industry, the education provider who knows they provide a skill set that employers want to hire, and the employer’s interest.

Blair compared his operational process to following a military model. Who else will hire you, train you and give you your first job?

“We’ve just found a way to make it work for the private sector. What is unique about me as an educator is that I am not in the armed services,” he observes.

He hires selected trainees as employees for his company. He pays them. As trainees, they agree to work at Nukudo for up to three years when the firm offers them their first job.

“So, this is what I would call a new co-working model. I don’t have stock. I do not sell software. What I do is bring people to companies and then let those companies be basically what you might call the longest job interview in the world,” he argued.

During this job experience, Blair mocks their recruitment process in the field of cyber security.

“They are an employee with us. I pay them. I give them benefits. It is an amazing system,” he added.

“I’m still a W2 of record, which means that our business partners — the companies we employ our workers at — write us a check for our workers’ services. It’s a really nice arrangement for them. One check takes care of everything, and that includes professional development.”

It happens every six months. Blair took his recruits back for a week to improve them. He interacts with recruiting agencies full time.

Complements traditional cyber security education

Blair sees the role of supporting the industry in finding the workhorses it is desperate to hire. Nukudo and Red Alpha are separate companies that differ slightly in how they operate. There are no financial controls or fees in them.

“We just share a parent company more than anything else,” he notes.

Blair isn’t trying to supersede traditional academic approaches to cyber security education. He thinks there will always be a place for university programs that teach students to learn things like governance and provide a good baseline.

“But for us, it’s really about giving our recruits the operational skills they’ll need to be successful when they hit the keyboard to protect and secure customer data,” he said.