Hacker breaches targeting corporate and personal data are worsening despite businesses and individual users adopting safe computing strategies, highlighting gaps in cybersecurity expertise. Cybersecurity workforce developer NukuDo addresses these gaps by offering specialized training that leads to guaranteed jobs in computer security.
The United States is facing a surge in major data breaches, including the theft of all U.S. Social Security numbers, a Chinese government attack on internet providers, and Iranian assaults on presidential campaigns. These incidents highlight the nation’s cybersecurity challenges, including a 400,000-specialist shortfall reported by the White House, despite extensive recruitment efforts.
For example, a hacker known as USDoD allegedly stole personal data from National Public Data, an online background check service provider, including the full names and former and complete addresses of 2.9 billion people going back 30 years. In recent months, hackers backed by the Chinese government penetrated U.S. internet service providers to spy on users.
Two ever-present obstacles enterprises face in locking down their cyber protections are a lack of cyber skills in existing IT workers and a shortage of qualified job candidates to bolster cybersecurity teams. Michael Blair, managing director of NukuDo, initiated a training program to address both issues.
Blair offers qualified candidates a six-month paid training program at $4,000 per month, a 401(k), and coverage for 100% of an individual’s health care costs. The program is followed by direct employment for three years. The package provides a hands-on learning experience and guaranteed employment opportunities open to a wide range of applicants, including recent high school graduates.
“We are attempting to revolutionize cybersecurity training. Our program is about doing something distinctly different,” Blair told TechNewsWorld.
Proven Training Model Expands Beyond Academia
The training facility, based in San Antonio, is designed to prepare the cybersecurity trainees for success at a level that the future employer would not get if hiring from a traditional academic program, Blair explained.
With a background in recruiting companies to the U.S. and training, Blair had first-hand exposure to what he called a sister company located in Singapore, Red Alpha, that started four years ago. NukuDo’s first training class began in March.
Blair shared a recent conversation with a CISO, saying he thought a very significant portion of his workforce in dealing with cybersecurity could only follow a checklist of things to do.
“That is not really what the industry needs,” he said about filling the numerous digital security vacancies.
The training program he expanded from Red Alpha addresses that need. In Singapore, the facility has about 180 people who have successfully worked through its programs in the last four years. The facility’s amazing record is that it has placed 100% of the graduates.
Blair said he had 5,000 applicants for his first training class in March. From that pool, he hired about 15 people. As the training cycle is wrapping up, all of those trainees are in the process of getting industry certifications.
“So our acceptance rate is less than 1%, but that is really important because I can find the right people in that pool worth investing in,” he offered.
Aligning Training, Education, and Employment
Blair believes this cybersecurity training method works because it aligns three separate entities. There is an individual who wants to enter the industry, the education provider who knows they provide a skill set that employers want to hire, and the employer’s interest.
Blair likened his operational process to following the military model. Who else will recruit, train, and give you your first job?
“We have just found a way to make it work for the private sector. What is unique about me as an education provider is that I’m not in armed services,” he observed.
He hires the selected trainees as employees for his company. He pays them a salary. As trainees, they agree to work for NukuDo for up to three years after the firm lands them that first job.
“So, it is what I would call a new co-employment model. I don’t have stock. I don’t sell software. What I do is bring the people to the companies and then let those companies essentially have what you could call the world’s longest job interview,” he reasoned.
During this on-the-job experience, Blair is derisking their hiring process when it comes to cybersecurity.
“They’re an employee with us. I pay them a salary. I pay them benefits. It’s an amazing arrangement,” he added.
“I am still the W2 of record, meaning that our business partners — the companies where we place our employees — write us a check for our employees’ services. That’s a really nice arrangement for them. One check takes care of everything, and that includes professional development.”
That happens every six months. Blair brings his hires back for a week at a time to upskill them. He is in touch with the employer company the entire time.
Complementing Traditional Cybersecurity Education
Blair sees his role as supporting the industry in finding the workhorses it says it is desperate to hire. NukuDo and Red Alpha are separate companies that differ somewhat in how they operate. No financial controls or fees exist between them.
“We just happen to share a parent company more than anything else,” he noted.
Blair is not trying to outdo traditional academic approaches to cybersecurity education. He thinks there will always be a place for university programs that teach and provide a good baseline for students to learn about things like governance.
“But for us, it is really about giving our hires the operational skills that they are going to need to succeed when they hit the keyboard to defend and protect customer data,” he said.
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