Building the Next Generation of Healthcare Cyber Defenders

The market for competent and qualified cybersecurity defenders has never been tighter: limited budgets, limited staffing and an extremely small pool of exceptional talent makes it tough for cybersecurity leaders in healthcare to staff their security operations teams. Organizations have not invested in new talent for a number of reasons. But what if there was a different way for an organization to meet its needs while building deeper partnerships with external partners like vendors, post-secondary institutions, and local or regional governments? Alberta Health Services’ cybersecurity operations has built a program to incubate new talent into cyber careers in close partnership with a number of universities, vendor partners, the provincial government and private sector industry. The schools provide the talent, our key vendors provide the training and industry certifications, and government provides some funding support. Much like what occurs with fresh medical professional graduates, Alberta Health Services provide IT grads with a two-year "practicum" where they learn real-world and practical cybersecurity operations on the job, and earn a fair wage. They leave with a handful of practical certifications and actual experience, and move into the private sector when they are finished their "tour of duty."