Authored by: Heather MacLean

Cybersecurity is one of the most important issues globally and for Canada’s economy, our businesses, government and society as a whole.

Regardless of where we live, work and play our lives can be impacted. From an economic standpoint, we know that the costs of 1cybercrime in 2015 were calculated to be approximately $3 trillion. This is expected to increase

to $6 trillion by 2021. From a citizen perspective, lives can be devastated due to identity theft, cyberbullying, cyber ransom and fraud, or cyberterrorism.

The challenge that faces us globally cannot be understated. As we connect more of our businesses and personal lives to the internet, there are both challenges and opportunities. One such challenge and opportunity

lay in the fact that there are currently 21 million cybersecurity jobs that go unfilled. That number is expected to increase to 1.5 million by 2019.

BackgroundWhen it comes to rising to this challenge, time is of the essence. In May 2016, the Province of New Brunswick, via Opportunities NB, launched Canada’s first comprehensive cybersecurity strategy and CyberNB. To deliver

upon and execute this strategy as well as build out the CyberNB team, cybersecurity expert Allen

Dillon was hired as the founding Managing Director. New Brunswick’s strategy

focused on five critical components. The first component to be tackled was CyberSmart. It is entirely dedicated to developing our talent pipeline - our human resources – to be better equipped for the digital economy or what some call the 3uber-internet.

CyberSmart- Creating the VisionWith the creation of CyberNB and one of its key initiatives being CyberSmart, New Brunswick has risen to the challenge to help mitigate the skills and workforce development challenge and leverage the opportunity to partner with industry, government and academia across Canada to facilitate and build a pan-Canadian strategy.

To help develop the skills and workforce development plan, John Kershaw, former Deputy Minister of the New Brunswick Department of Education joined the team to lead the development of the CyberSmart initiative. With Kershaw’s expertise and network in education, the CyberSmart strategy and tactics emerged as a solid line of attack to build out our talent pipeline starting with K-12 and continuing on through post-secondary education and into professional development, as well as talent securement, including immigration. An important distinction for CyberSmart is the identification of both STEM and non-STEM skills and workforce development needed to overcome the global challenge. For success, it is critical to build a comprehensive skills and workforce strategy that incorporates all required professionals.

CyberSmart 2017 – Canada’s 1st National Summit on Cybersecurity Skills & Workforce Development

1 Cybersecurity Ventures2 Cybersecurity Ventures3 Cisco

Being part of the 1st CyberSmart Summit and talking about cybersecurity skills and workforce development was very exciting and important. Events like these confirm that despite living in an increasingly virtual world, meeting face-to-face for important conversations is very valuable. For CCNB, engaging the industry to determine their needs is part of how we operate and the Summit offered us another venue to do that while also engaging with government and other parts of academia simultaneously. Finally, the CyberSmart Summit provided me with the chance to network with the right people in the industry, and to exchange ideas with like-minded individuals who want to provide top quality and knowledgeable human resources for this extremely important sector in our digital society. Pierre Clavet, Sector Specialist – IT, Science and Technology

“The challenge and the opportunity that we face is by no means small. However, as a collective we can accomplish far more than any single entity or person. While cybersecurity is rooted in the IT domain, the sector is truly multi-disciplinary in nature. Our strategy therefore must be multi-disciplinary by design and integrate disciplines such as law, criminology, engineering, business, psychology, sociology, and education.” John Kershaw, Director, CyberSmart

From the onset, collaboration was a key value for CyberNB. For the CyberSmart initiative, this couldn’t be more important. Working with industry, academia and with other government departments was critical to its success to develop a comprehensive approach to tackling the skills shortage.

Bringing People TogetherOver the course of several months the CyberNB team met with various levels of government and sister organizations including the New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD) and the

Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour (PETL), industry – companies and associations such as Tech Impact, etc.- and academia – both public and private institutions. The synergies and energy emerging were very obvious. Action plans for curricula development and long-term specific actions were taking shape in and for New Brunswick.

As partnerships were developing, it became clear that the next logical step, to help facilitate and formulate a pan-Canadian skills and workforce development strategy, meant bringing a larger group – from across the country together.

As the agenda continued to accelerate and leading up to the Summit, a formalized working relationship with objectives, deliverables and measurements was well underway with EECD and PETL.

Collège communautairedu Nouveau-Brunswick

“I was absolutely delighted with the success of the Skills and Workforce Development Summit. The CyberNB team not only highlighted what is happening in the field of cybersecurity, but also used the event to establish critical relationships. The Summit built partnerships and has paved the way for future collaboration between leaders in the technology field, as well as the establishment of an MOU of with Education and Early Childhood Development.” Chris Treadwell, Assistant Deputy Minister, NB EECD.

The significance of such intra-agency MOUs is not minor. While government is expected to work together, these MOUs specifically outline tangible projects with real deliverables and outcomes that will directly impact New Brunswick’s skills and workforce development now and well into the future. They also pave the way for other partnerships and formal working relationships that will benefit us all.

CyberSmart 2017John Kershaw and CyberNB team member Heather MacLean were named the Co-Chairs for the first annual national Summit. Planning for the Summit began in January 2017 and the dates for the actual Summit were set for May 24th and 25th of that same year. With only a little over five months to execute, the challenge to assemble a program that would attract people from across Canada ensued.

Leveraging the relationships and partnerships of the CyberNB team, four very impressive keynotes were locked in within a couple of weeks and the Save the Date was issued. The keynotes were:

• Fred Kaplan, best-selling author of Dark Territory

• Namir Anani, President of the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)

• Rodney Petersen, Director of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education(NICE), United States

• Peter Henschel, Deputy Commission, Specialized Policing Services, RCMP

“With the heightening demand for cybersecurity talent on a global scale, the CyberSmart Summit fostered strong insights and connections to address this issue. Building a cybersecurity talent supply early in schooling will be paramount for Canada going forward. Our valued collaboration with the NB Department of Education & Early Childhood Development as well as Opportunities NB, and CyberNB to act as National Ambassadors for ICTC’s CyberTitan program marks a pivotal step forward in building the talent supply in Canada.” Namir Anani, ICTC, President & CEO.

In addition to the keynotes, the Summit attracted high-profile thought leaders from the Canadian Government including André Boucher, Director General Cyber Security Partnerships, Colleen Merchant Director General for Public Safety and private sector industry leaders from Amazon Web Services, FireEye, Dragos, Root9B, IBM, Bulletproof, ICSPA and more.

“The CyberSmart Summit brought together the right key stakeholders – employers, industry partners, school and university leaders, and government officials – to work together side-by-side to build and grow the cybersecurity workforce of the future. The Summit program content and participant interactions set the stage for pursuing a cybersecurity education and workforce roadmap that is community-oriented, employer-led, learner-focused, standards-based, and outcomes-driven.” Rodney Petersen, NIST Director.

OutcomesThe success of the Summit was very important for CyberNB and our stakeholders. Not only did we want to host an event that resulted in concrete actions, but as importantly we wanted Delegates, Sponsors and Speakers alike to leave knowing that the two days spent together culminated into what will lead to tangible long-term results. We believe that this was achieved through the discussions, the reporting out at the event and subsequent follow-ups, meetings and real partnerships that have been formed.

“Finding and developing key talent in the cybersecurity field is key to the future growth and success of Bulletproof. CyberSmart 2017 and the thought leadership behind it is exactly what our organization needs to seize the opportunity ahead of us. Our participation and sponsorship in the event represent our commitment to addressing the talent challenges that we know exist.” Steven Burns, CEO Bulletproof.

Results OrientedThe Summit drew more than 300 Delegates from across Canada and the United States. Delegates represented industry leaders and influencers, all three levels of Canadian government, private and public post-secondary institutions as well university and high school students. In fact, we believe that this might be the first time that students were asked to actively engage in cybersecurity related roundtable discussions and to provide their input about what is needed for their future development. Industry was so impressed with this approach, it was suggested that our next Summit include a session dedicated exclusively to being student-led.

There were numerous take-aways from the Summit. The highlights we heard most frequently include:

• The real value is the collaboration and sharing that occurred over both days

• Learning from what is currently being done and how to scale across the country

• The value of having Canadian cyber skills standards and workforce framework

• Embracing Differing Perspectives

• Celebrating Successes through the CyberNB Awards which recognized 10 individuals and organizations. Full details available Blog

• Including not only industry, government and academia, but students in the design is critical

• Discussion is great, but the fact that key themes were captured and were reported out “at” the Summit was both unique and important for moving forward.

• The need to continue the discussions and to leverage the new networks that emerged at the Summit.

For more details on the key take-aways, consult the Summit Recap Blog post.

Next StepsA summary report of the conversations, themes and key findings is being prepared and will be shared with all Delegates. A special web portal will be developed in 2017 for Delegates to share information and plans as we continue to develop a pan-Canadian skills and workforce development agenda.

Finally, planning has commenced for CyberSmart 2018 which is scheduled for April 17 and 18. If you have ideas for 2018, be sure to reach out to us with the subject line CyberSmart 2018.

Want to learn more about CyberNB or CyberSmart? Click here

Heather MacLean is the Marketing Lead for CyberNB and is an award-winning MarComm who has worked in more than seven industries and 20+ countries.