Level Up Gaming has been hit by a massive ransomware attack—and company CEO Sloan Stanfield is relying on a group of high school students to save the day. Stanfield has charged them with quickly diagnosing the issue, coordinating recovery efforts and alerting law enforcement to protect the company’s data—and a $25 million investment.
But Level Up isn’t a real company and no one’s career or data is at stake. Sloan is the persona of Michelle Stanfield, the inaugural director of Bridgewater State University’s Cyber Range, an experiential learning program that throws students and working professionals interested in cybersecurity into simulated scenarios.
“It’s an immersive experience,” Stanfield says. “Even if you’re not a technical person, there’s an opportunity for you to see that cybersecurity requires many kinds of professionals.”
The cyber range was launched with a $2 million state grant, in partnership with MassCyberCenter and CyberTrust Massachusetts, to grow and diversify the cyber workforce in state agencies and other entities harboring sensitive data. Nearly 80% of organizations suffered a cyberattack within the last 12 months, up 11 percentage points from 2023. And yet, over 450,000 jobs in cybersecurity remain unfilled throughout the United States, according to CyberSeek.
Bridgewater State is using its cyber ranges to cultivate excitement for cybersecurity careers across the workforce pipeline. High schoolers invited to play the Level Up simulation are exposed to Bridgwater State’s cybersecurity bachelor’s degree—the first undergraduate degree of its kind in the Massachusetts university system.
Mid-career professionals interested in upskilling can also engage with the range and pursue a set of CompTIA certifications that can help industries verify an applicant’s aptitude. Bridgewater State also plans to roll out workshops and alternative credentials around cybersecurity communication to help bridge technical work with senior leadership.
“When we’re seeing the issues in the workforce gap, the problem didn’t come about overnight and it’s not going to go away overnight,” Stanfield says. “We must work in partnership from K12 up [to the workforce] to make sure that we’re aligned.”
Interest in experiential learning opportunities in cybersecurity may be growing alongside federal agencies’ growing appetite for workers without college degrees. The Office of the National Cyber Director announced it may remove four-year degree requirements for federal jobs in IT to bolster the workforce, and it urged employers and higher education to seek and develop talent through skills-based assessments and apprenticeships.
“We can’t just go to the four-year institutions that have folks with bachelor’s degrees in cybersecurity and think that’s going to solve the problem,” Jake Braun, Acting Principal Deputy National Cyber Director, said to leaders attending the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association International annual TechNet Cyber in September.
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A statewide fleet of cyber ranges hit Maryland
Maryland may be one step ahead of Massachusetts thanks to a statewide cybersecurity workforce and education initiative. The Cyber Workforce Accelerator earned $3.6 million to provide its state community college system with 10 BCR Cyber Series 3000 Cyber Ranges. Funding approval came after seven years of pilot work, which has trained over 1,000 students and earned students an 83% job placement rate.
The statewide initiative intends to use its first 10 ranges to train about 1,100 credit and non-credit students in its first year of deployment. Cybersecurity job vacancy in Maryland currently hovers around 25,000, according to CyberSeek.
“You can go through four years [of school] and get to an employer on day one and have no idea what you’re doing,” says Michael Spector, president of BCR Cyber, which also facilitates the ranges’ training, testing and certification. “But utilizing the cyber range completely changes the game for these students. It’s why employers are so interested in this model.”
The ranges will draw workforce preparation interest outside of Maryland once they are operational in April, Spector asserts. But other institutions are securing funding to fortify their own. The Ohio Cyber Range Institute at the University of Cincinnati will be dedicating $6.5 million in state funding to renew hardware and equipment and scale its classes and exercises by 20%.
“We are now living more and more in a digital world, so there is a base level of skills that everyone needs to learn,” Rebekah Michael, the institute’s executive staff director, told the Cincinnati Business Courier.
Furthermore, the Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics gifted the University of Arizona, the University of Hawaii, Tufts University and 12 other institutions up to $1 million each to beef up hands-on training for aspiring professionals. Community organizations associated with the colleges and universities will also receive mentorship from Google employees.
