By Kristen Uppercue
The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the world to rely even more on the internet, forcing West Virginia’s business community—especially small businesses—to re-evaluate and grow their online presence and government agencies and educational institutions to brainstorm new ways to train and engage students. Amid opportunities for transformation and innovation, however, the pandemic also opened West Virginians up to online exploitation. With phishing, social media scams, viruses and a myriad of other cyberattacks, businesses, organizations, government entities and even individuals have a lot to consider before logging online.
Assessing the Risks
According to Joshua Spence, West Virginia’s chief technology officer, increased cyberattacks have resulted in the loss of sensitive personal information, fueling identity theft and fraud, and multiple sectors have experienced the theft of intellectual property, which will have long-term effects on the global economy and security.
Cyberattacks can have lasting impacts on the economy. Ransomware—a cyberattack designed to hold the use of technology hostage in exchange for money—cost the U.S. an estimated $7.5 billion in 2019, according to a report by cybersecurity firm Emsisoft.
“The rapid acceleration in the number of cyberthreat actors, coupled with the costly impacts of cyberattacks, has driven the significant growth of the cybersecurity industry,” says Spence.
This increase in potential attacks requires an increase in skilled workers who know how to prevent and address them.
“Cybersecurity is a very scary world right now, but it does provide a lot of different employment opportunities,” says Jim Estep, president of the High Technology Foundation. “What’s most important for us in West Virginia is that we continue to build the foundation of a business case for a cybersecurity industry in our state.”
Turning Threats into Opportunities
The cyber industry will continue growing alongside technology, and many organizations in West Virginia are working to expand available opportunities. Leaders from the West Virginia National Guard (WVNG), West Virginia Community and Technical College System (WVCTCS), West Virginia Cyber Security Working Group, High Technology Foundation and TechConnect West Virginia as well as legislators and educators across the state are simultaneously working on a variety of initiatives to improve and maintain the growing cyber industry, making the state more marketable.
“I think we are on the right path because we are addressing the state’s needs in real time,” says Nancy Ligus, director of workforce and economic development for the WVCTCS. “This will help attract companies to West Virginia as well.”
Ligus, alongside Spence and Estep, serves as a member of the West Virginia Cyber Security Working Group, an organization focused on bringing potential stakeholders in the cybersecurity industry together to brainstorm ideas, make connections and support the growth of the cyber industry in the Mountain State. This statewide effort has provided training and work opportunities throughout West Virginia, and effects of the pandemic have showcased the importance of filling this gap.
The High Technology Foundation strives to grow a knowledge sector in West Virginia’s economy by emphasizing STEM efforts in the state and creating contracting opportunities for the state’s businesses. A large aspect of the foundation’s focus is on cyber and recruiting those interested in cyber to West Virginia. Through an initiative called Come Home 2 WV, the foundation attempts to recruit West Virginians who moved away to find work and anyone working outside the state in the cyber industry to the Mountain State by maintaining a database of available cyber jobs.
“We want to create a repository of people that companies can look at,” says Estep. “West Virginia is a wonderful place, and we’re recruiting anyone who might want to be considered. It’s really a dual approach—we must continue producing the right people from our educational institutions and retrain people where we can, but that has to go hand in hand with equally aggressive recruitment efforts.”
Addressing Cyber Needs
While the High Technology Foundation recruits from outside the state, the WVCTCS is working to train inside the state. It recently received a nearly $4 million apprenticeship grant from the U.S. Department of Labor toward its Apprenticeships in Motion (AIM) project, which is expected to train 1,600
apprentices in IT occupations through 2023, according to Ligus.
Through the grant, apprentices will receive training through one of nine community or technical colleges in the state and be placed with a West Virginia business looking to fulfill IT jobs in areas like cybersecurity, software development, network administration and data analysis. Companies that participate will be reimbursed up to 50% of the apprentice’s wages.
“Because the cyber industry is one of the four largest sectors of growth in West Virginia after manufacturing, energy and health care, it is one of the sectors we are targeting,” says Ligus. “Every organization, every company, every business needs an IT person or someone with IT skills to work in the company. So, in that light, this grant allows us to help employers in West Virginia to either hire apprentices that are newly skilled through our programming or upskill their current employees with credentialed skills that lead them to higher-paying or higher-level jobs.”
Through apprentice training and expanding the state’s cyber industry, Ligus believes the AIM program, alongside the work of other organizations in the state, can not only attract attention to West Virginia but also allow the state to become a leader in addressing cybersecurity needs.
“I have no doubt that this federal grant funding and the activities realized through this grant—supporting our business and industry partners in filling those jobs with skilled IT workers—is going to build that technology sector in West Virginia,” she says. “It’s going to bring to light how important that sector is to our state, and we’re in a great position to be the catalyst for that.”
Training a Cyber Workforce
Meanwhile, the WVNG is focusing on an initiative to train soldiers and airmen in cybersecurity and recruit workers from across the country to West Virginia. This fall, the Guard will train 15 additional soldiers to be ethical hacking certified.
The initiative has a two-prong approach: extending the Guard’s capacity for cyber by training those in positions that are not primarily cyber-related, making the WVNG an attractive candidate for additional missions, and working with universities in the state to train the Guard’s soldiers and airmen in cybersecurity through beginner and advanced courses.
More than 100 soldiers and airmen have received training that is capable of trickling down to other industries in the state through the Guard’s initiatives.
“About one-third of the Guard is full time, and the other two-thirds are citizens—they work somewhere else. By growing that capacity, we have also grown the technological workforce available for industry,” says Colonel Jody Ogle, director of communications and cyber.
Ogle, who also serves on the West Virginia Cyber Security Working Group, refers to the Guard’s initiatives as part of a greater state plan, echoing Ligus on the current statewide effort to push West Virginia’s cyber industry forward. The Guard is working with a variety of organizations and universities to brainstorm different approaches to achieving this goal. One such approach is recruiting retired military members back to West Virginia for potential job opportunities.
“No one has a single right answer, so the purpose of this committee is to brainstorm ideas and talk about emerging opportunities and ways to grow capacity,” he says. “I wouldn’t say we have a single direction in which we’re marching, but we’re looking at a lot of different options to approach the same problem.”
As many people across the country continue to work from home due to COVID-19, Ogle believes West Virginia can take advantage of that opportunity by recruiting those workers by asking, “Why not West Virginia? If you can be anywhere, why not here?”
“When people hear about West Virginia, they very rarely think of technology,” he says. “If we can build capacity in West Virginia, people will come. We have people who will work as hard or harder than anyone else. Talent is equally distributed, opportunity is not, so building the capacity might shift the paradigm so the opportunity will come.”
