CompTIA RFI Response - Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure - Workforce Development

Sep 20, 2026

CompTIA submits a response focused on strengthening the cybersecurity of federal networks and critical infrastructure through improvements to the cybersecurity workforce. It describes CompTIA’s role in education and training, credentialing, and information sharing, and supports the NIST initiative toward viable, measurable workforce solutions. The response identifies key data streams for evaluating education, training, and workforce development: cyber workforce dynamics, cyber readiness, training/performance effectiveness, and return on investment, including gaps in existing metrics and ideas for data collection and assessment.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

General information

Growing and Sustaining the Nation’s Cybersecurity Workforce

Cyber workforce dynamics

Cyber readiness

Training / performance effectiveness

Workforce categories and competencies

CompTIA RFI Response: Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure: Workforce Development General information The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is the world's leading not-forprofit information technology (IT) association. With approximately 2,000 member companies, 3,000 academic and training partners, over 100,000 registered users and more than 2.4 million IT certifications issued, CompTIA is dedicated to serving the tech industry and tech workforce through education and training programs, market intelligence, social innovation, and more. CompTIA supports the current NIST cybersecurity workforce and is committed to ensuring they have the necessary tools and knowledge to keep us secure as a nation, while also supporting policies that will help to strengthen the workforce of the future. Among other things, which we have outlined below, we support enhancing the use of industry-recognized credentials, modernizing the way we teach and train, and improving the sharing of information between industry and government. CompTIA is an advocate for the tech industry and tech workforce in various governments around the world. Our work continues in the form of apprenticeships, mentoring, and offerings designed to educate the workforce to meet the ever-expanding cybersecurity threat landscape. CompTIA recognizes that while progress has been made on many cybersecurity fronts, there is still much work to do. CompTIA welcomes the opportunity to support efforts, such as this NIST initiative, to continue to work towards viable, measurable, and scalable cybersecurity workforce solutions. Growing and Sustaining the Nation’s Cybersecurity Workforce 1. What current metrics and data exist for cybersecurity education, training, and workforce developments, and what improvements are needed in the collection, organization, and sharing of information about cybersecurity education, training, and workforce development programs? There are several important streams of data needed to effectively evaluate and track the growth and sustainability of the Nation’s cybersecurity workforce: a. Cyber workforce dynamics b. Cyber readiness c. Training / performance effectiveness d. Return on investment Cyber Workforce Dynamics Cyber workforce dynamics covers the data associated with understanding the “who,” “what,” “where,” and “how” of the cybersecurity workforce. While the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and related agencies involved in collecting and aggregating these types of data points provide a good starting point, their output lacks granularity or simply does not August 2, 2017 exist in a number of critical areas. Many industry groups conduct surveys and research to help complete the picture. For example, CompTIA in partnership with Burning Glass Technologies and NICE, launched [www.cyberseek.org](www.cyberseek.org during late 2016. This)[ during late 2016. This](www.cyberseek.org during late 2016. This) first-of-its-kind supply/demand heat map provides new insights into cyber workforce dynamics. While these efforts are a step in the right direction, opportunities remain for additional macro-level work. Cyber Readiness In evaluating cyber readiness, a critical question to pose is whether cyber readiness of our nation’s private sector and public sector institutions follow a classic bell-shape curve? Or, does it skew towards a higher concentration of ill-prepared organizations? Where are we today, and based on that baseline, what are realistic improvement milestones over the next decade? Data wish list idea: to answer these questions, seek an add-on component to an existing government research study (e.g. the Economic Census) or possibly a new dedicated vehicle for collecting cybersecurity data A number of industry groups and companies have created assessments or tools that attempt to address this question, but there are often gaps in coverage, shortcomings in the

FAQs

What metrics and data streams does CompTIA recommend for evaluating the cybersecurity workforce?

CompTIA recommends data streams covering cyber workforce dynamics, cyber readiness, training/performance effectiveness, and return on investment.

Why does CompTIA believe current workforce data needs improvement?

CompTIA notes that existing sources, such as Bureau of Labor Statistics outputs, lack granularity or do not cover several critical areas, leaving gaps that need to be addressed.

How does CompTIA describe the relationship between training effectiveness and workforce outcomes?

CompTIA emphasizes assessing how knowledge gains translate to workplace performance and highlights return on investment variables that influence how employers and workers evaluate cybersecurity training.

Sep 20, 2026

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