HACKED Act

This bill expands and coordinates federal agencies' cybersecurity recruitment and education initiatives.

Specifically, the bill directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to (1) support efforts to identify cybersecurity workforce skill gaps in public and private sectors; (2) facilitate efforts for federal programs to advance cybersecurity education, training, and workforce development; and (3) consider any specific needs of the cybersecurity workforce of critical infrastructure.

NIST is authorized to award grants of up to $200,000 for cooperative agreements between the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) and regional alliances or partnerships for cybersecurity education and workforce. Additionally, NIST must identify and develop standards and guidelines for improving the cybersecurity workforce for agencies as part of the NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework.

The bill also expands the National Science Foundation (NSF) Federal Cyber Scholarship-for-Service Program by allowing up to 10% of scholarship recipients to fulfill their service obligation as educators in the field of cybersecurity at qualified institutions of higher education. Further, the NSF must give priority to cybersecurity education when awarding grants for (1) computer science education research, (2) scientific and technical education, and (3) low-income scholarship programs.

The Department of Energy may carry out a program to support the development of a cybersecurity workforce, and NIST must establish national cybersecurity challenges in order to achieve high-priority breakthroughs in cybersecurity.