For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
WASHINGTON—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today met with industry and small business representatives at the White House to discuss the Department’s current efforts to secure cyberspace and develop the cyber workforce.
“Today we face an increasing demand for the best and brightest in the cybersecurity field across industry, academia and government, said Secretary Napolitano.“DHS is committed to working with our partners at universities and throughout the private sector to develop the next generation of cyber professionals to protect against evolving cyber threats.”
During the event, Secretary Napolitano announced that the Homeland Security Advisory Council will launch an effort focused on cyber workforce development. The new task force, co-chaired by Jeff Moss and Alan Paller, will consider strategies that may include expanding DHS involvement in cyber competitions and university programs, enhancing public-private partnerships, and working with interagency partners to develop an agile cyber workforce across the federal government
In addition to protecting civilian government networks (the .gov domain), DHS also works with owners and operators of critical infrastructure to help them secure their own networks by conducting risk assessments and developing plans to mitigate risks. Last year, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, part of DHS’ 24-hour watch and warning center, responded to more than 106,000 incident reports, and released more than 5,000 actionable cybersecurity alerts and information products to public and private sector partners.
Recently, Secretary Napolitano traveled to California where she spoke to students at San Jose State University on cybersecurity and expanding the cybersecurity workforce, as part of the DHS Campus Lecture Series.
For more information, visit www.dhs.gov.
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