Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.
Congressional lawmakers are joining forces across party lines to tackle a growing crisis: a critical shortage of cybersecurity workers in one of the nation’s fastest-expanding fields.
The bipartisan, bicameral Cyber Ready Workforce Act — moving through both the Senate and House of Representatives — would direct the Department of Labor to establish a grant program funding the creation, expansion and implementation of registered cybersecurity apprenticeships.
“Cybersecurity, each and every second, is becoming more and more important,” said U.S. Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., who introduced the bill in the House alongside Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. “The whole purpose of this bill is to address the shortage of cybersecurity professionals by creating apprenticeships that will help recruit and train a new generation of workers.”
Democratic members of the Nevada congressional delegation, from right, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Sen. Jacky Rosen, Rep. Susie Lee, Rep. Dina Titus and Rep. Steven Horsford, attend a groundbreaking ceremony April 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. The five are hopeful acceptable compromises can be made to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies now that the federal government shutdown has ended. Photo by: Wade Vandervort
In the Senate, the bill was introduced by Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., a former computer programmer who says expanding apprenticeships is one of many steps she has taken to close gaps in the cybersecurity workforce — and to connect Nevadans with good-paying, future-forward jobs.
“Cybersecurity increasingly impacts every part of our lives, and a lack of trained professionals to fill jobs in this growing industry inhibits economic growth and makes us more vulnerable to cyberattacks,” Rosen said in a statement shared with the Las Vegas Sun. “That’s why it’s so critical to invest in the creation and expansion of cybersecurity apprenticeships to build up our workforce and create opportunities for Nevadans along the way.”
The number of online job postings for cybersecurity-related positions was more than half a million in 2025, based on U.S. figures, with nearly 4,000 in Nevada, according to Lee. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted employment of information security analysts will grow 29%, much faster than the average of all occupations, from 2024 to 2034.
Greg Moody, UNLV’s director of Cybersecurity Programs and professor of Information Systems, attributed the rapid growth of the cybersecurity space to other industries’ increasing reliance on technology and data.
As companies grow, Moody said, they have an ethical, legal or regulatory obligation to maintain the accuracy and safety of the data they acquire.
“As a result of all these regulations and the growing interconnectedness of businesses with their supply chains or partners, the need for people who have a skill set to defend this data — whether it’s on a cloud-based architecture, so architecture owned by someone else that you rent out, or on your own architecture hardware that you own — there’s a vastly growing demand for that,” he said.
When cybersecurity first emerged as a job field, its worker pipeline was made largely of people already in technology or with technological skills — either from information technology or human resources departments, Moody said. As the industry grew, certifications became more standard to ensure people entering it had the right skills sets.
Once cybersecurity became more policy-regulated and began to grow even more, it found a place in academia.
“So certifications existed first — academic programs entered later,” Moody said. “And they’re still trying to play catch up. Because there’s been such a large demand for such workforce that hasn’t been trained.”
Academic programs for cybersecurity are still playing catch-up, as Moody called it, as “technology has been exploding” and the field continues to expand into different roles and areas — including the development of artificial intelligence.
Supply is lagging behind the demand, and most companies looking for cybersecurity workers are looking for “boots on the ground,” he said, or people who are ready to enter the workforce and actually do the job outside of a classroom.
“There’s this large hurdle for entry, because the companies don’t have time to, essentially, coddle and teach someone for another three to six months to really get them working where they need to be,” Moody said. “Sometimes they need someone now because they already have a large backlog of what needs to be done, and they haven’t had enough resources to meet that yet.”
The Cyber Ready Workforce Act — plus directing resources to training people so they are ready to enter the cybersecurity workforce — is a “grand, noble idea,” Moody said.
At UNLV, which in March formally launched its Institute of Cybersecurity, the two-year Youth Rebel Start Academy within the College of Education, allows high schoolers to earn college credit and gain real-world experience through paid apprenticeships in multiple fields, including IT and cybersecurity.
“The whole goal was to encourage students at the high school level to get into the cyber field,” said Moody, who emphasized the benefits of apprenticeships in which students can do real work while also in academic programs.
The UNLV Cyber Clinic also offers cybersecurity services at no cost to businesses that may need them, giving participants the chance to develop their skills in a hands-on environment.
The UNLV cybersecurity program gives students mentors, certifications and opportunities to complete actual projects with local industry partners, Moody said, to try and have a more applied approach.
“If you go look at the statistics of what’s the best indicator of how a student lands their first-time job — the highest indicator has always been internships,” Moody said. “And so if you build that in the programs, that not only they’re doing internships, but a formal apprenticeship … it would have that same underlying thing of the student would have real-world experience, and so when they finish their program, they’re much more employable.”
Hospitality in Las Vegas has learned the importance of cybersecurity after attacks on entities such as Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International.
Cybersecurity is uniquely important to Las Vegas not just because the hotels and casinos on the Strip are likely targets, but also because it hosts some of the largest cybersecurity and technology conferences in the world, is home to Nellis Air Force Base, test sites and data centers, and is undertaking “smart city” initiatives, Moody said.
Cybersecurity is “always at the forefront of what people are dealing with,” Lee said. “And for me, creating a path where we can provide some grants, whether it’s to colleges or businesses or nonprofits, to support registered apprenticeship programs — that’s important too, so people are learning on the job and learning why they work.”
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