By Greg Touhill, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Cybersecurity & Communications
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Our networks continually face threats from hackers, criminal organizations, and nation state actors. To combat this constant threat, the federal government has worked to build a strong workforce of cybersecurity professionals to secure and protect our networks.
At the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), we are committed to recruiting, training, and employing eligible veterans to meet the ever-growing cybersecurity mission. DHS has teamed up with the non-profit organization Hire Our Heroes to provide U.S. veterans with access to the Federal Virtual Training Environment (FedVTE). FedVTE is an online, on-demand training system that provides employees at all levels of government with access to courses on cybersecurity. Through FedVTE, veterans receive access to free cybersecurity training and certification prep courses that build the skills needed to be competitive for cybersecurity jobs across the country.
FedVTE offers more than 800 hours of training on topics such as ethical hacking and surveillance, risk management, and malware analysis. Course proficiency ranges from beginner to advanced levels. Several of the available courses align with a variety of Information Technology certifications such as Network +, Security +, and Certified Information Systems Security Professional.
FedVTE is already available to federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government employees, so veterans with an email address ending in “.gov” can register and begin taking courses simply by visiting https://niccs.us-cert.gov/training/fedvte. Veterans who are not government employees must verify their veteran status prior to receiving FedVTE registration information through https://hireourheroes.org/veterans-training/.