ANN ARBOR – As the cybersecurity landscape grows more complex, the need for increasingly diverse cybersecurity training continues to expand. To meet this need, Merit Network is collaborating with the Cyber World Institute to expand the Cyber Security certification training program.

“In today’s news, there is a continuous stream of reports about large, prestigious organizations falling victim to cyber-attacks,” says Linda Montgomery, President of Cyber World Institute. She adds, “Zero-day threat vulnerabilities can mean big business on the black market as hackers buy and sell the right to exploit programming weaknesses in some of today’s biggest software programs and enterprise networks.

“The demand for a cyber trained ‘white hat’ work force to counter these forces grows daily,” Montgomery said. “A recent study projects the estimated shortfall of Information Security certified professionals will reach 1.5 million by 2020. This partnership with Merit Network and the Michigan Cyber Range will create an unmatched level of realism in certified security training that results in a well prepared cyber defender workforce.”

Cyber World Institute of Las Vegas, NV, is one of the 12 official North American (ISC)2 training centers. (ISC)2 is the world’s leader in cybersecurity, and the certifications are well established as the gold standard. The first offering from CWI on the Merit schedule is the Healthcare Information Security and Privacy Practitioner (HCISPP), January 25-29, 2016. The HCISPP is designed for IT professionals in the healthcare industry to safeguard sensitive patient information in line with the latest regulations and the ever-changing healthcare topography.

Additionally, to meet a critical market need to ensure cloud security and cloud infrastructures, (ISC)2 and Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) have collaborated to create the CCSP – Certified Cloud Security Professional credential. This credential ensures that cloud security professionals, have the required skills, knowledge and abilities to audit, assess, and secure cloud infrastructures. 73% of CIOs believe that cloud computing will require information security professionals to develop new skills. Cloud Security was also identified as the top area of information security with growing demand for education and training within the next three years.

“I’m looking forward to this new collaboration, says Dr. William J. (Joe) Adams, Merit’s Vice President of Research and Cybersecurity. “It not only fills out our portfolio of training offerings, but it also supports our strategic initiatives to train Merit’s membership and the cyber security professionals in different industries like healthcare. It’s an exciting time and I’m glad we have CWI to work with.”

Cyber World Institute is a division of The Learning Center (TLC), a 30 year IT and cybersecurity certification training company headquartered in Las Vegas, NV. TLC is partnered with CompTIA, Microsoft, ISC2 (Cybersecurity) and others. TLC is a woman-owned organization and prides itself on its 30 year history of educational and training excellence. 

For more information: www.tlclasvegas.com