A new Cybrary partnership plans to add 600 apprenticeships in cybersecurity

Cybersecurity-focused workforce development platform Cybrary is continuing to grow its educational support for professionals. The College Park, Maryland-based company has a new joint partnership launching today with Safal Partners and Cyber Future Foundation (CFF) to provide cybersecurity training for U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) apprentices.

The program will provide employers with cybersecurity and technology training programs for public and private sector apprentice employees, with plans to add 600 apprenticeships in the first year and 750 annually over the next five years. It builds on an existing contract between Safal and the CFF’s Department of Labor arm to increase the overall number of cybersecurity apprenticeships available.

“Cybersecurity can often be overlooked when it comes to education, so this partnership is a step in the right direction to increase the awareness and importance of it within a major federal agency like the USDOL,” said Valmiki Mukherjee, founder of CFF.

Program participants will be able to access 200 cybersecurity learning modules, plus workshops, labs and on-demand training as selected by the employer. The apprenticeships are full-time, with the location based on the participating employers and both virtual and in-person offerings. The overall goal is to equip additional employees with cybersecurity skills, which a recent Enterprise Strategy Group study said 70% of companies are lacking.

“These positions are the backbone of any strong security team and we’re looking forward to seeing how this collaboration helps enable more teams to scale their collective skillsets,” said Wesley Samuel III, senior VP at Cybrary.

The partnership is the latest in Cybrary’s offerings to boost cybersecurity education. Last June, it offered seven free courses in cybersecurity and IT training for professionals impacted by the pandemic, following it up with another round in November featuring disinformation and preparing for cyber attacks. At the time, the company said that learning hours quarter over quarter had increased by 2.5x, but enrollment in the courses offered monthly increased 30-fold.