Cybersecurity communities of practice: Strategies for creating gateways to participation

Amidst the critical international demand for cybersecurity talent, educational institutions and industry stakeholders have emphasized the need for broadening access to various forms of formal educational pathways and certificate programs. While these effort s have operated to significantly increase the num-ber of students engaged in formal cybersecurity education, little has been done to develop accessible entry points into informal cybersecurity communities of practice. In this paper, we argue that cybersecu-rity expertise is largely predicated on entry into and participation in these cybersecurity communities of practice. Emphasizing the role of the cybersecurity community draws attention to the importance of ad -hoc and informal experiences in the development of both tacit knowledge and social capital within the workforce, and the ways in which opportunities in the field are differentially and unequally distributed. As such, this paper begins by describing the role and importance of the cybersecurity community and cybersecurity culture in developing the cybersecurity workforce, followed by a discussion of existing ef-forts at two major state universities to develop cybersecurity education programs that explicitly provide onramps to the cybersecurity community. We close this paper by exploring practical mechanisms by which to develop educational experiences which act as both gateways into cybersecurity communities of practice and as agents of change for the field itself -seeking to actively scale the workforce while simultaneously creating space for minoritized voices in the field.& COPY; 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Amidst the demand for cybersecurity talent, there is a need to broaden access to formal education and certificate programs, as well as develop entry points into informal cybersecurity communities. This paper highlights the role of cybersecurity communities in developing expertise and the unequal distribution of opportunities in the field. It also discusses efforts at state universities to provide onramps to the cybersecurity community and explores mechanisms to scale the workforce and include marginalized voices.