The NICCS website now has new, interactive micro-challenges on the Cyber Career Pathways Tool! Based on the top NICE Framework categories and work roles, the micro-challenges are aligned to ten cybersecurity work roles: Technical Support Specialist, System Administrator, Network Operations Specialist, Systems Security Analyst, Database Administrator, Data Analyst, Cyber Defense Analyst, Cyber Defense Incident Responder, Vulnerability Analyst, and Law Enforcement/Counterintelligence Forensics Analyst. Explore the Cyber Career Pathways Tool and check out the micro-challenges now!

For K-12 students and individuals looking to reskill or transition from non-cyber career, CISA’s micro-challenges provide an opportunity to experience first-hand the knowledge, skills, and tasks performed in the top cybersecurity workforce roles. As a new feature within Cyber Careers Pathway Tool, the micro-challenges consist of 14 hands-on experiencesthat allow users, whether self-paced or through instruction, to complete several core cybersecurity workforce tasks, while exploring the knowledge and skills necessary to complete the tasks. Users are led through an interactive learning environment and provided information about the workforce role and cybersecurity education, training, and career opportunities once the challenge is completed.

“Helping individuals see the opportunities, challenges and rewards of a cybersecurity career, especially K-12 students, is critically important to CISA,” said Acting Chief Learning Officer Chris Lein. “As a part of our Cyber Career Pathways Tool, we are proud to release micro-challenges that can help prospective workers understand the breadth of cybersecurity careers, demystify some of the core tasks for the workforce roles, and enable all users to see themselves in a cybersecurity workforce role. CISA is focused on developing a robust pipeline of highly skilled cybersecurity professionals to meet the workforce demands of today and the future.”

For more information, visit the Cyber Career Pathways Tool or email us at NICCS@hq.dhs.gov