Cyber Florida Leads Election Security Tabletop Exercise (TTX)
On 8 May, over sixty representatives from fourteen counties participated in an in-person TTX hosted by Cyber Florida at Hunter’s Green in Tampa. County Supervisors of Elections (SoEs), Law Enforcement (LE) personnel and those in Information Technology (IT) roles were joined by representatives from the FBI, Florida Digital Service (FLDS), the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the University of West Florida (UWF), and Florida International University (FIU) (two of Cyber Florida’s state training program partners) to address this critical topic. The FBI, CISA, and UWF spoke to the group about the importance of election security, how their organizations provide support, and how state and county officials can connect with them.
Following those informative presentations, Norwich University Applied Research Institute (NUARI) orchestrated a four-hour session using scenarios developed in concert with Cyber Florida, SoEs, and LE personnel. NUARI’s DECIDE tool virtually presented scenario events to the different sets of “players” in the room, who had to articulate how they would respond to the events. The advantages of holding the event in person became obvious as numerous discussions and networking occurred at every table and among the SoEs, LEs, and IT personnel throughout the day—organic discussions that could not be replicated in a strictly virtual environment.
Cyber Florida infused the new, state-funded cyber range (hosted by SimSpace) to provide a technical, hands-on dimension to the experience. IT personnel from three counties and University of South Florida students in Cyber Florida’s Security Operations Center Apprentice Program were confronted with various cyber events on the range. At the conclusion, IT participants were asked to share the events detected and actions taken. Notably, their presentations were clear and concise—even to those in non-technical roles—underscoring the importance of IT personnel being able to explain things in “plain English” to managers and executives who may need to take or authorize specific actions.
Feedback from participants included these comments:
- “We need to revise our Incident Response Plan to include many of the things we learned today.”
- “Learned a lot about resources available to us: CISA, FBI, Cyber Florida, FLDS and other state orgs.”
- “The opportunity to have in-person networking was great.”
- “The use of tech and opportunity to collaborate amongst many counties was great.”
- “We need to codify our processes and know our key POCs.”
- “We need more training events like this.”
Cyber Florida thanks the Pasco County SoE, Kristie Crump, and the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (specifically Chuck Esposito), who contributed expertise and used their SoE and LE networks to help us garner the support and participation of other counties.
Cyber Florida is working with FIU to co-host another in-person TTX in the Miami area in August and will endeavor to host one in the Jacksonville area in September. As we do this, we will also need support from SoE and LE personnel in those parts of the state.
National Cyber Director Releases Workforce and Education Strategy
June 25, 2024 – Washington, D.C.: The Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) today released the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy: Initial Stages of Implementation, outlining the progress made since the office initially released the strategy in 2023. In a blog post announcing the report, titled “Unleashing America’s Cyber Talent,” Assistant National Cyber Director for Workforce, Training and Education Seeyew Mo, noted that “…demand for cyber talent is only going to grow. We are at a crucial point where we all must work together – across the Federal Government, private sector, academia and non-profits, and other stakeholders…”
Mo went on to outline several initial successes, including, “unprecedented” coordination across 35 Federal agencies; a shift in Federal hiring toward a skills-based approach to IT positions; identification of Federal investment opportunities to provide more access to these careers for Americans; and the cooperation of more than one hundred of agencies, associations, foundations, and academic institutions yielding $95 million in investments, 13,000 new hires in the field, and more than 1 million trained.
Cyber Florida at USF is proud to participate in this national initiative through several programs, including CyberWorks—which is part of the national CyberSkills2Work program—and the National Centers of Academic Excellence program managed by the National Security Agency.
National Cyber Director Releases Cyber Workforce Resources
April 26, 2025—Washington, D.C.—The Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) developed the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy (NCWES) and Fact Sheet to address this national security and economic imperative. The NCWES meets President Biden’s call in the 2023 National Cybersecurity Strategy (NCS) for ONCD to develop a strategy to expand the national cyber workforce, increase its diversity, and expand access to cyber education and training. Implementation of the NCWES will expand opportunities nationwide for good-paying jobs in cyber. ONCD released a report on the initial implementation of the NCWES to provide an update on progress.
The NCWES aims to both equip all Americans with foundational cyber skills and increase access for all workers, regardless of college degree status, to good, meaningful jobs in cyber. There are hundreds of thousands of cyber jobs across the country that are available now and offer high earnings potential and the opportunity to protect our organizations, businesses, communities, and country.
If you are a job seeker, see the Guidance and Resources sheet for how you can explore these skills and jobs.
For educators, the NCWES supports instruction for skilled cyber workers and the teaching of foundational cyber skills to all Americans. It supports educational models that encourage the development of skills-based alternatives to four-year degrees and the alignment of adaptive digital skills to continuously evolving industry needs.
If you are an educator, see the Guidance and Resources sheet for how you can explore these skills and jobs.
For employers, the NCWES encourages cross-sector employment initiatives to expand and diversify the cyber workforce through skills-based hiring, training, and career development.
If you are an employer, see the Guidance and Resources sheet for actions you can take to expand and diversify your cyber workforce.
