Mayorkas to Announce the Largest Cybersecurity Hiring Initiative in DHS History

Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, has announced its onboarding of 300 cybersecurity professionals and an extension of other 500 tentative job offers in the Department’s largest cybersecurity hiring initiative in its history. This initiative is part of a 60-day Cybersecurity Workforce Sprint, aiming to build a more diverse and multi-talented cybersecurity workforce. According to Secretary Mayorkas, cyber threats and crimes are increasing, so we should prepare well to defend it by hiring more talents.

In early May, Secretary Mayorkas set a goal to hire around 200 new cybersecurity personnel in the Department by July 1. The achievement of the Cybersecurity Workforce Sprint shows a strong wish by our country's highest cyber talent to bestow them to public service and support blocks some of the most compound trials we come across today. DHS is dedicated to confirming its staff represents the varied communities it assists. To this end, the Cybersecurity Workforce Sprint is stranded in diversity, equity, and inclusion most acceptable practices, and comprises targeted outreach to underserved communities.

Secretary Mayorkas, this month, will also launch an Honors Program starting with an initiative to recruit recent graduates with degrees in cybersecurity-related arenas for a one-year specialized development program at DHS. Participants who productively complete this program will be qualified for enduring, full-time cybersecurity positions at the Department. Additionally, the Department's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is mounting its K-12 initiative to nurture the next generation of diverse cybersecurity professionals.

Secretary Mayorkas, in March, outlined his dream for the Department's cybersecurity urgencies during a virtual address hosted by RSA Conference in corporation with Hampton University and Girl Scouts of the USA. The Secretary highlighted a series of full sprints intended to raise existing work, eliminate roadblocks to development, and take off new initiatives and partnerships to attain DHS’s cybersecurity assignment and implement the Biden-Harris Administration's primary concern. The first sprint was concentrated on raising consciousness about the cumulative risk of ransomware.