Network Security

NYC announces ambitious cyber innovation and jobs initiative

New York City officials today announced CyberNYC, a multimillion-dollar initiative to turn the Big Apple into a major cybersecurity destination for technologists, enterpreneurs and job seekers in the coming years.

Plans include the opening of a Global Cyber Center for innovation and the city's first international cybersecurity investment hub, as well as a series of education and training programs.

"Cyber NYC will fuel the next generation of cybersecurity innovation and talent, leveraging one of the world’s greatest threats to create a major economic anchor and up to 10,000 quality middle-class jobs,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) President and CEO James Patchett in a press release. “We’ve convened a world-class roster of partners to help us execute on this essential plan, which will help protect the industries and people that make this city the economic powerhouse that it is today.”

The Global Cyber Center will be housed in a 15,000-square-foot facility in Chelsea, where investors, start-ups and enterprises can collaborate on creating innovative new solutions and services, developing a program of industry events, and running simulations in a virtual testing ground. Meanwhile, the investment center, dubbed Hub.NYC by JVP, will operate out of a 50,000-square-foot workspace in SoHo.

Another program called Inventors to Founders will task Columbia University with connecting academic cyber inventors with entrepreneurs for the purpose of fostering new start-ups.

To help boost the local cyber workforce, New York also plans to start an Applied Learning Initiative that will offer students opportunities to earn certifications and degrees through training partnerships with CUNY, NYU, Columbia University, Cornell Tech and iQ4. This includes a  new one-year CUNY Master’s program developed in collaboration with Facebook.

In the press release NYCEDC said it will offer a pair of Cyber Boot Camps that will "place over 1,000 students in jobs that have an average starting salary of $65,000 over the first three years of the program." The first is offered via CUNY’s LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC) and will help adults with minimal cyber experience learn the basics. Those who graduate from that program can join the second boot camp offered via Fullstack Academy, which offers software engineering coding courses and will train students in industry-specific cybersecurity competencies.

The city will invest $30 million from its own coffers into making Cyber NYC a reality, while also accepting up to an additional $70 million from private funding.

In June 2017, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiledten-year plan to introduce 100,000 jobs with annual salaries of $50,000 or greater by strategically investing in multiple industries, with a strong emphasis on cybersecurity. At the time he said this "New York Works" initiative would entail a $30 million investment in cybersecurity training, academic research and development labs, as well as the first business accelerator specializing exclusively in upstart cybersecurity firms based in the city.

Bradley Barth

As director of community content at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for SC Media online conferences and events, as well as video/multimedia projects. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

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