The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has been working to manage threats to physical and cyber infrastructure on a national level since its founding in 2018. CISA works with both private and public sector partners to anticipate threats and provide protection for national security.
Cyber Employees Needed
Aastha Verma, Supervisory IT Specialist, works in the Vulnerability Management Division. “When you think about an event happening, there’s always the stuff that happens before the event, during, and after the event. So roughly, you can think of CISA as being set up the same way. There are divisions that are focused on trying to prevent an incident from happening, that’s the preemptive side of cyber security. That’s the division I work in presently,” she explained.
Once an event happens, other divisions in CISA investigate to determine exactly what happened. “There are other divisions that are focused on providing the right level of service and capabilities to the rest of the agency,” said Verma. “We’re continuously proving our tools and our diagnostics capabilities and services that we offer, so we have several other divisions like Capacity Building and Capability Delivery that are all about supporting those mission-critical services. We have a strategy planning group that focuses on shaping the CISA vision and CISA mission.”
But this mission-critical work is facing a massive shortage of employees. Verma estimates that as many as 2 million more cyber security professionals are needed around the world, with around 500,000 of those jobs available just in the U.S.
“If you have an interest in cyber security, you can still find a job here if you come in with no experience. We’re willing to train you,” she said. “Quite frankly, if you’re willing to learn, this is a great place to be.”
CISA is looking for some specific qualities in their employees, but those don’t need to include cyber security experience. “When I’m in that interviewer’s chair, what I’m looking for is someone with an aptitude, someone willing to learn, someone willing to problem solve. Someone who cares about the mission,” she said. “Playing a part in reducing the risk for national security, it’s such a bigger mission than I’ve ever done in my prior life. In the private sector, so much of your focus is about making a profit for the company or for your investors, but here the mission is so much more meaningful. Here, you’re protecting the homeland.”
If you’re looking for meaningful work protecting homeland security, see all the job opportunities CISA has to offer.
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