State of Illinois MxD Cyber Security
Abstract
Under the Budget Control Act of 2011, Department of Defense (DoD) spending decreased by $119B from FY12 to FY18. This decrease created great uncertainty within the defense manufacturing ecosystem and may have driven some manufacturers out of the defense market altogether. However, this decrease also occurred at a time when cyberattacks from state and non-state actors were increasing in the United States, with defense manufacturers being a prime target. Cybersecurity has now become a critical and needed capability in the defense manufacturing sector and those without a robust cybersecurity posture risk losing revenue, future business, or their competitive advantage to third-party players and hostile foreign governments. To address this issue, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and MxD Learn, the workforce arm of MxD (Manufacturing times Digital), will collaboratively develop a curriculum to address the need for cybersecurity for operational manufacturing technology (OT) for defense manufacturers. The objective of the curriculum program is to provide current workers with learning opportunities that result in certification(s), giving them the tools necessary to execute careers in cybersecurity in manufacturing and increasing the security of U.S. manufacturers from cyber-attacks. The first phase of this program is to develop an intake process (via short courses) that will enable the classification of individuals and skill sets that are needed to fill in the gaps identified by our network. Once established, a series of deeper dive courses can be built in the future for the individual profiles using experiential learning based on the initial work done during intake. This approach ensures a comprehensive view of requirements and expectations of all stakeholders: (1) Industry partners (including Human Resources for hiring process); (2) Academic partners and individuals who are looking for further qualifications or starting their professional career. At the conclusion of this grant, the UMBC-MxD team intend to have a model which can be scaled for a broader effort nationally to protect small and mid-sized defense manufacturers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 09, 2020
- Source ID
- HQ00052010033
Entities
People
- Nilanjan Banerjee
Organizations
- Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- University of Maryland, Baltimore County