In an increasingly digital world where data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cybercrimes are pervasive, a skilled cybersecurity workforce is more important than ever. Yet the industry grapples with a significant worker shortage. Globally, there are an estimated 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs, including nearly 500,000 vacancies in the United States, according to research firm Cybersecurity Ventures. At the same time, a large talent pool is being underutilized: female professionals. 

Virginia's proximity to the federal government and the wealth of private technology leaders headquartered in the Commonwealth have helped its workforce rise to the forefront of the cybersecurity industry. It boasts the second largest cybersecurity workforce in the country, with approximately 80,000 cybersecurity professionals operating within the Commonwealth. Yet Virginia is also home to a unique asset that provides its businesses with a secure operating environment and access to singular skill sets that they can’t develop in-house.

In Northern Virginia, GMU created the first cybersecurity engineering major in the country, which helps support its bustling C5I center. The major launched with 105 students 10 years ago. A decade later, 800 students are enrolled in what is now a department, and interest continues to increase unabated. 

Virginia’s Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) is devising innovative solutions to these emerging threats. Launched in 2020, CCI is a state-funded program that collaborates with businesses, higher education institutions, and local governments to support research, innovation, and workforce development in cybersecurity across the region.

Virginia is leading efforts to address the country’s talent gap. The Commonwealth has the second-largest cyber workforce in the U.S., with demand continuing to grow. Between September 2023 and August 2024, Virginia employers sought to fill 51,005 cybersecurity jobs, and that number is only expected to rise, according to CyberSeek.

Quokka entered the cybersecurity world with a big reputation — under its previous name, the company landed on the front page of The New York Times after discovering a critical security vulnerability in some Android smartphones that sent user data to Chinese servers. In 2019, the company’s further investigations into mobile apps exposed that the massive social media app TikTok was sending data to China.

Brad Medairy is executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, a Virginia-based Fortune 500 company where he leads the national cyber account and focuses on the cyber missions of national-level clients like the FBI, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Cyber Command. VEDP President and CEO Jason El Koubi spoke with Medairy about the key cybersecurity issues his company works on for its clients and the future of cybersecurity with the rise of AI and quantum technology.

VEDP President and CEO Jason El Koubi spoke with Candice Ling, senior vice president at Microsoft and head of the company’s federal government business unit, about Microsoft’s cybersecurity work with the federal government and potential future developments in the cybersecurity industry.

Steven Chen is the founder of PFP Cybersecurity, a cybersecurity firm in Fairfax County, and a partner at Blu Venture Investors, a venture capital fund focused on early-stage firms in several fields, including cybersecurity. VEDP Vice President of Knowledge Work Meghan Welch spoke with Chen about the cybersecurity funding environment in Virginia.

FARNBOROUGH - Governor Terry McAuliffe announced today that Overfinch, the world’s leading creator of bespoke Range Rover vehicles, will invest $1.82 million to establish a manufacturing operation in the City of Danville. The company plans to upfit Jaguar Land Rover vehicles, which will be sold to customers across the U.S. The investment includes an assembly and conversion workshop, vehicle servicing, diagnostics, and parts warehouse. Virginia successfully competed against California for the project, which will create 41 new jobs.