The purpose of theHub and Spoke Project is to seek Research and Deliverables on
Utilizing an Academic Hub and Spoke Model to Create a National Network of Cybersecurity
Institutes from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute (CIRI). The growing cybersecurity workforce shortage in the United States remains an issue of deep concern for the Federal government and Congress. The impacts of this gap present national security risks that must be met with a national response. On May 11, 2017, the President of the United States issued Executive Order 13800 calling for the strengthening of cybersecurity critical networks and industrial control systems. The Executive Order required the Secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Commerce to provide recommendations supporting growth and sustainment of the Nation’s cybersecurity workforce across the public and private sectors.
This project will be termed the CISA “Research and Deliverables on Utilizing a Hub and Spoke Model to Create a National Network of Cybersecurity Institutes.” The CISA CDET objective is to seek assistance from the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute (CIRI) to conduct research for input into a consolidated plan on utilizing an academic hub and spoke model to create a national network of cybersecurity institutes. Please note the term institute in academic settings is often interchangeable with the term “center” or “academy.” For the purposes of this research project, a “cybersecurity institute” is defined as an establishment and setting for specialized hands-on training in cybersecurity. The research and deliverables will focus on establishing a framework for utilizing a regional academic hub and spoke model that creates institutes providing education and training to narrow the gap in the national cybersecurity workforce pipeline. A regional academic hub and spoke model consists of a centralized “hub” within each CISA geographical region which establishes, coordinates, and manages the relationship with the “spoke” schools to provide CISA standardized curricula.
