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By Ross Guidotti
December 11, 2023 / 4:45 PM EST / CBS Pittsburgh
ALIQUIPPA, Pa. (KDKA) — Last month, the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa suffered a cyber attack that the FBI says originated in Iran. 
On Monday in Pittsburgh, representatives from the Biden administration and local leaders met to keep that kind of thing from happening again using new the national cyber security strategy. 
There’s a reason the meeting was held in Pittsburgh, according to Audrey Russo, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Pittsburgh was identified as a tech hub and according to Russo, the meeting focused on many things, including the potential for developing human cybersecurity assets.
“Talent, really focusing on talent,” Russo said. “There’s probably about 3,000 job opportunities in our region that have something in the title that’s related to cyber.”
Three thousand of some 700,000 like jobs that need to be filled to form a force of civilian and governmental cyber defenders. And you don’t necessarily need a tech degree. 
“English majors, people who come up through information technology, people who have journalism degrees,” Russo said. 
Apprenti PGH is a process that involves a cyber security boot camp that puts those individuals into a company’s cyber ecosystem.
“We’re seeing people who never believed that they had opportunities, and we’re talking not about just living wages. We’re talking about prosperous opportunities,” Russo said. 
Another focus is on getting the education system set up to produce these future cyber ninjas, and an early start is the key.
“We need to be focusing on middle school kids and getting them focused where these opportunities and get them excited about that,” Russo said. 
For more information on the Pittsburgh Technology Council Aprenti PGH program, click here. 
Ross Guidotti, a Pittsburgh native and Point Park graduate , joined KDKA in 2001 as a general assignment reporter.
First published on December 11, 2023 / 4:41 PM EST
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©2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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