Los Alamos National Laboratory and Northern New Mexico College in Española have partnered to create a new cybersecurity training center, which aims to bolster jobs in the field at LANL and across the country.
Called the Center for Information Technology and Cybersecurity, NNMC will receive $376,675 from the National Nuclear Security Administration's Pipeline Development Program, lab and college officials recently announced, which will help fund a faculty director position and aid in software, hardware and outreach activities.
The cybersecurity center comes at a time when government agencies and businesses across the nation have begun taking more steps to block hackers from gaining access to intellectual property that can kneecap Americans and pose a threat to the nation's defense.
Hector Balderas, president of NNMC and former attorney general for the state, said now is the time to develop the next cybersecurity workforce.
"We're still at the very beginning of the amazing opportunity technology is going to bring to our country, but it's also presenting very high risks to our market," he said.
In New Mexico, a cyber attack hit New Mexico Highlands University in April, which locked users' files. The hackers demanded that the computers' owners pay a fee for a decryption code, according to the university. And a ransomware attack also hit Lovelace Health System's parent company, Ardent Health Services, late last year, which resulted in Lovelace having to reroute emergency room patients and reschedule specific surgeries.
New Mexico is already a leader in craft cybersecurity professional. The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology is home to the New Mexico Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, which is working to develop cybersecurity expertise in economic development, education, innovation and research for the state of New Mexico.
In creating a cybersecurity center, LANL and NNMC aim to train more students in cybersecurity, which typically includes protecting an organization's employees and assets from cyber attacks.
Officials said the center, a result of LANL's Mentor-Protégé Program, which focuses on supporting businesses as they expand their capabilities, is expected to begin in the fall of 2025 for four-year degrees and professional development.
LANL noted that NNMC is the first minority-serving higher education institution to participate as a protégé in the U.S. Department of Energy program, which Balderas called a social equity win.
"I'm very proud also that this is a story about upward mobility for a lot of young people in Española, and they're really excited about answering the call to their nation," Balderas said. "This is an emerging issue that's not going to go away."
NNMC is just the latest in a list of organizations and institutions to join the LANL program as a protégé — including the Pueblo Alliance, a joint venture that comprises two tribally owned businesses, and North Wind Inc.
Balderas said the college will staff up to meet the center's needs, saying he hopes to finalize leadership this fall.
"I want New Mexico to understand that we can develop excellent programming in any corner of the state," he said.
THE WORKFORCE
Some jobs in cybersecurity, like forensic analysts and information security engineers, tend to be better-paying jobs with median salaries of around $98,000, LANL said.
At the lab, some 1,200 employees, or about 7 percent of its total workforce, work in some aspect of computing, Director Thom Mason said, including in business systems, computer networking and desktop support, and installing, maintaining and coding its supercomputers.
LANL said about 29 percent of its employees have degrees from state institutions.
"Partnering with New Mexico educational institutions is one important way that the laboratory contributes to regional business and workforce development," Mason said in a statement. "Training students for relevant careers ensures robust enrollment for the college and allows the lab to hire local talent for in-demand jobs."
But the lab and the broader state are lacking workers who specialize in cybersecurity, a result, Balderas said, of the country lagging in developing a robust technology-focused workforce.
Raja Sambandam, chief information security officer at New Mexico Department of Information Technology, said his agency and its Office of Cybersecurity is working with the state's Department of Workforce Solutions to put together an apprenticeship program, which is "very valuable in building a robust workforce pipeline program."
"There is a need for a well-trained cyber workforce in New Mexico and everywhere else due to the number of attacks and complexity of the threat vectors," he said via email.
Balderas said while there has been some entrepreneurial innovation in this space, higher education institutions have largely been behind the curve in offering opportunities and eliminating barriers like cost.
He said NNMC is an example of a school offering affordable pathways and entry into the workforce.
"The state needs to invest more dollars into higher education to create these pathways and make them more accessible to all types of students," Balderas said.
He pointed to the renewable energy field, which is also struggling to find workers.
"Policymakers have to do more than offer incentives, as they did in clean energy. They focused a lot on (the) private sector and they focused a lot on policy but they forgot about infrastructure and resources (for) the workforce," he said.
Balderas said many young people are self-educating through the private industry rather than higher educational institutions. He said the partnership with the lab is all the more exciting because the investment creates even more opportunities for students in cybersecurity in particular.
"I'm excited because I think we are going to try to scale up a program to complement where young people are already getting some of their knowledge and skill sets developed," he said.
Balderas said cybersecurity professionals should also be placed in executive management roles. For example, he said, his chief information officer is at the executive president level.
"Executives think that IT is about servicing computers, and it's so much more about safeguarding assets, safeguarding personnel information.
"And law enforcement authorities do not have jurisdiction. There are no cyber police. So businesses need to understand that many of them are on their own to protect and safeguard their assets," he said.
He recommended the governor and policymakers remain proactive in making cyber assessments mandatory and properly staff departments. The state needs to pass tougher cybersecurity laws, he added.
"A lot of times, they're making these decisions as afterthoughts," Balderas said.
©2024 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
