Google CEO Sundar Pichai pledged $20 million in donations on Thursday to support and expand the Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics to introduce thousands of students to potential careers in cybersecurity, while also helping defend small government offices, rural hospitals and nonprofits from hacking.
The tech giant launched the Google Cybersecurity Certificate program last month to help prepare people for entry-level cybersecurity jobs. It also partnered with universities in New York on a research program to create learning and career opportunities across the cybersecurity sector. “We need to incentivize students to pursue careers in fields like cybersecurity to reverse that trend,” he said. “We must all embrace the idea of becoming lifelong learners."
Pichai said there are currently more than 650,000 open cybersecurity jobs and there is a need for a diverse workforce to address the issue. “We have seen this in the past when we’ve gone to communities and open data centers in rural communities,” he said. “It creates a spark. It inspires more people... These are catalyzing moments.”
Ann Cleaveland, executive director of the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity at the University of California, Berkeley, said the clinics can help organizations “get over a sense of nihilism” about dealing with hackers. While many groups think there is nothing they can do against a state-supported hacker or ransomware attacks, the clinics can offer low-level solutions that can combat a large number of threats.
That makes cybersecurity and “all hands on deck” issue, said Cleaveland, who is co-chair of the consortium’s executive committee. She said Google.org’s donation will help the consortium establish new clinics, as well as provide mentors to the students staffing them.