Google invests $15M to train new cyber pros
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Google is providing $15 million to create new cybersecurity clinics at universities across the country, the company announced today.
Why it matters: The 15 new clinic programs are designed to attract more students to a cybersecurity career, while also helping resource-strapped small businesses get the security help they need.
- Cybersecurity clinics operate similarly to law school clinics: Students spend a semester consulting with a local small business to help improve their cyber defenses and provide other cybersecurity services.
Zoom in: Google is providing $1 million to help support new programs at Dakota State University, the University of Texas at El Paso, Spelman College and several others.
- Schools submitted applications as part of a new Google initiative, and partnering organizations conducted webinars and other outreach to attract a diverse applicant pool.
The intrigue: Google originally only planned to invest a total of $20 million and back 10 new clinics — but the application pool inspired the company to invest an additional $5 million, bringing the total to $25 million by 2025.
- Google is also providing free Titan security keys, scholarships for the company's cybersecurity certificate program and mentorship for new clinics.
What they're saying: The new funding "just has so many amazing downstream effects," Heather Adkins, Google's vice president of security engineering, told Axios. "A business owner will go home and think about the personal security in their household and teach their kid, and it creates this lovely virtual cycle of building everyone up."
The big picture: Cyberattacks are one of small business owners' biggest fears — in part, because they lack the time, money and headcount to properly invest in cybersecurity.
What's next: Each of the new clinics is slated to start operating either in the upcoming fall semester or next spring, Ann Cleaveland, executive director of UC Berkeley's Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity told Axios.
- The clinics will also become members of the Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics, which the UC Berkeley center is co-chair of, where they'll receive additional long-term mentorship and support.
