Report on Strategic U.S. Government Engagement in International Standardization to Achieve U.S. Objectives for Cybersecurity (NISTIR 8074 Volume 1 - Draft) - response

Q: What is CompTIA’s main purpose in this letter?

To provide comments to NIST on the draft report addressing strategic U.S. government engagement in international standardization for cybersecurity objectives.

Q: Which area does CompTIA say the draft report omits?

Cyber workforce issues, which CompTIA argues should be included as a core area of cybersecurity standardization.

Q: What solution does CompTIA advocate for workforce protection in the global environment?

Ensure IT and cybersecurity professionals receive appropriate training and achieve industry-recognized certifications that validate the required skills.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Aditya

Letter from CompTIA to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) commenting on a draft report about strategic U.S. government engagement in international standardization to meet cybersecurity objectives. The submission highlights CompTIA’s role in vendor-neutral IT and cybersecurity workforce certifications, notes growing international interest, and emphasizes that cyber workforce issues should be included in cybersecurity standardization. It argues for coordinated standards that ensure training and industry-recognized certifications validate skills and improve resilience across U.S. information systems.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Response to draft report

CompTIA background and certification role

Key recommendation: include cyber workforce issues

Approach: training plus industry-recognized certifications

References for best practices

Mr. Michael Hogan and Ms. Elaine Newton Office of the Director, Information Technology Laboratory National Institute of Standards and Technology 100 Bureau Drive Mail Stop 8930 Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8930 September 24, 2015 Re: Report on Strategic U.S. Government Engagement in International Standardization to Achieve U.S. Objectives for Cybersecurity (NISTIR 8074 Volume 1 (Draft)) Mr. Hogan and Ms. Newton: CompTIA thanks the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the opportunity to comment on the “Report on Strategic U.S. Government Engagement in International Standardization to Achieve U.S. Objectives for Cybersecurity”(NIST IR 8704 Volume 1 (Draft)) . As you may know, CompTIA is a non-profit, high tech trade association with a membership of more than 2,000 that includes computer hardware manufacturers, technology distributors, and information technology (IT) specialists who help organizations integrate and use technology products and services. CompTIA’s members are at the forefront of innovation and provide a critical backbone that supports broader commerce and job creation. Our partners include worldwide training and testing developers, training providers, and academic institutions. Our association is also the leading developer and provider of vendor-neutral IT and cybersecurity workforce certifications. The CompTIA certifications that are most commonly recommended or required by federal agencies (CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network +, CompTIA Security+, and CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner) are International Standard ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 certified. We have also recently completed our full integration of TechAmerica into our public advocacy efforts, adding an additional member base of large technology companies and complementing CompTIA’s strengths in education, certification, advocacy, and philanthropy with additional competencies in state, federal and international policy work.1 We applaud NIST for developing a framework for the U.S. Government’s strategic objectives for pursuing the development and use of international standards for cybersecurity. Like NIST, CompTIA believes the increasing complexity and global nature of the world economy, as well as advances in technology, necessitates the coordinated development of international standards to ensure the 1 Comp TIA Unifies Brand for Advocacy Efforts, June 15, 2015, [http://www](http://www) . com p tia . org/advocacy/briefing -‐ room /press -‐ releases/2015/06/15/com p tia -‐ unifies -‐ brand for-‐advocacy -‐ efforts \# \# \R Ab􀀜􀀚 <􀀜3􀀜 EO aV W\Ub ]\􀀚 21 􀀞􀀞􀀞 eee􀀜Q][^bWO􀀜]`U cybersecurity and resiliency of all U.S. information and communications systems and supporting infrastructures. We also want to take this opportunity to again thank NIST for its emphasis on engagement with the private sector on the development international cybersecurity standards. While the majority of our sales of certifications are conducted within the U.S., CompTIA has recently seen growing interest in our certifications and our training companion tools abroad. Currently, about thirty percent of our business is conducted overseas. Our response to the draft report is centered on NIST’s omission of cyber workforce issues as a core area of cybersecurity standardization. As the report rightly points out,“The U.S. standardization community is comprised largely of non-governmental Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) .”This observation is very prevalent in the IT cyber workforce space and industry solutions to achieve askilled workforce align with the U.S. Government focus on achieving cost-efficient, timely, and effective solutions for mission and policy objectives. CompTIA has also provided some additional feedback on effective U.S. Government programs that we encourage NIST to consider as it strives to achieve standardization across the global cyber workforce. First, the capabilities of the global cyber workforce both in the private sector a

FAQs

What is CompTIA’s main purpose in this letter?

To provide comments to NIST on the draft report addressing strategic U.S. government engagement in international standardization for cybersecurity objectives.

Which area does CompTIA say the draft report omits?

Cyber workforce issues, which CompTIA argues should be included as a core area of cybersecurity standardization.

What solution does CompTIA advocate for workforce protection in the global environment?

Ensure IT and cybersecurity professionals receive appropriate training and achieve industry-recognized certifications that validate the required skills.

Sep 20, 2026

Uploaded by Aditya