AcronisSCSVets, a nonprofit created last year to provide free cyber IT training and internationally-recognized certifications for veterans, has set a goal to put 50,000 veterans into the industry over the next five years. 

This month, the Scottsdale-based group graduated its first cohort of 14 top performers. Ten already have secured cybersecurity/IT jobs. 

Before COVID-19 hit, there was an enormous workforce shortage in the industry. Now the need is even more urgent, said John Zanni, the founder of AcronisSCSVets and CEO of Acronis SCS, a leader in edge data security and cyber protection in the U.S. public sector.

“Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has seen nearly a 70 percent increase in cyberattacks,” Zanni said during the virtual commencement ceremony for the new grads. “The current fear and confusion present an opening for bad actors to capitalize on this and send malicious emails pretending they are the World Health Organization or the CDC to try to get to your systems.

“Once open, however, these attachments and links introduce ransomware and other attacks that can spread throughout the system, presenting particular challenges for public sector organizations trying to keep critical constituent services up and running while practicing social distancing.”

Companies of all sizes also are at risk, as hundreds of thousands of cybersecurity jobs go unfilled, Zanni said. 

Unfilled cybersecurity jobs to reach almost 3.5 million next year 

By 2022, the number of unfilled positions is expected to reach 1.8 million in the U.S., according to a from the Center for Cyber Safety and Education. 

Globally, there are expected to be 3.5 million job vacancies by 2021, to Cyber Security Ventures that has been tracking the jobs data for the past eight years.  

Of those applying for cybersecurity jobs, fewer than one in four are qualified, according to a 2018 in MIT Technology Review.

Placing “underemployed” veterans in salaried jobs

In creating AcronisSCSVets, Zanni also wanted to help underemployed veterans. 

Though veterans overall have higher employment rates than non-veterans, they are underemployed in larger numbers, meaning they are not getting enough paid work or not doing work that makes full use of their skills and abilities. 

In fact, veterans are 37 percent more likely to be underemployed than nonveterans, shows a recent by LinkedIn. 

Veterans like Shaun Johnson. After twenty years in the U.S. Navy, Johnson found himself earning an hourly wage in the produce section of a local grocery store. Then, he heard about the AcronisSCSVets program. He applied and the rest is history. 

Johnson now holds a salaried supervisory IT role in Arizona at a major name brand company.

“With this knowledge and tools that (the program) gave me, I was not only able to apply for a level 1 help desk job, I was able to secure a supervisory position, and a couple of weeks later, I was offered the opportunity to become a tech systems delivery manager.” 

Nine of the other graduates in the first cohort also have secured jobs in the field. Three others are seeking higher education or certifications. One is seeking employment. 

Goal to provide free training to 3,000 veterans in Arizona, 50,000 in U.S. 

Acronis SCSVets plans to train 50,000 veterans, service members, and military spouses nationwide over the next five years. 

In Arizona, it plans to train 3,000 during that time. Currently, there are nearly 13,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the state, according to .  

Ultimately, the organization would like to train more if it can secure appropriate funding from donations or grants, Zanni said.

Zero cost to veterans seeking cyber careers

At zero cost to qualified veterans, the program arms participants with credentials, skills, and resources necessary to secure entry level jobs in IT and cybersecurity. There’s also social services support and career services built in to ensure success. 

“Our students are prepared to excel in public and private sector organizations of all sizes, though our program is particularly beneficial for small- and medium-sized businesses, which are in critical need of qualified cyber talent, account for the majority of open U.S. jobs, and often lack veteran-specific hiring programs,” Zanni said.   

What AcronisSCSVets offers

• Cyber Certifications The curriculum prepares participants to obtain stacked cyber certificates, including internationally-recognized CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, Windows 10, and Acronis SCS credentials.

• Career skills workshops and social services support Participants have access to quarterly, in-person, civilian-led career skills workshops, covering everything from social media

engagement to resumé building and mock interviews, and ongoing life skills resources and social services support.

• Career pipelines After obtaining the right certificates, participants are connected with cyber and tech employers from a diverse and growing pool of industry partners.

For more information, to apply for the program or to give a donation, visit: .

About Acronis SCS

Acronis SCS is an American cyber protection and edge data security company dedicated to serving the unique backup, anti-ransomware, disaster recovery, and enterprise file sync and share needs of the US public sector. Acronis SCS products are built and supported in the United States by US citizens.

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An uptick of coronavirus-themed cyber attacks on hospitals, pharmaceutical laboratories and even the trucking industry in recent weeks reveal the need for businesses to double down on security to ensure their networks are protected, a leading cyber security expert said. 

Many of the attacks were ransomware, holding companies’ network systems hostage until a payout was made. 

Some companies, particularly small and mid-sized businesses, might not survive such an attack, said John Zanni, CEO of Scottsdale-based Acronis SCS, a in edge data security and cyber protection in the U.S. public sector.

“The pandemic has increased impacts on businesses significantly. Unfortunately, many are not equipped to deal with them,” said Zanni, whose company caters to public sector entities including local, state and federal government organizations as well as branches of the U.S. military. 

Zanni strongly advises organizations to beef up network safety. The cost is minimal and today’s technology is highly effective. 

A large organization that has its IT system knocked out can pay in the “hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars” to fly in a forensics firm to fix the damage, Zanni said. For smaller private sector entities, the cost can put them out of commission.

“If someone breaks into your business, you call 911,” he said. “If you call 911 and say, ‘I’m suffering a ransomware attack,’ they don’t know what to do. It’s a big problem.”  

COVID-19 has brought the issue into the limelight as more employees work from home, doctors conduct telemedicine appointments, and online purchases soar.  

Cyber criminals wreaking havoc with the word “corona”

Under COVID-19, cyber criminals are having a field day, honing in on companies in countries like the United States that are in the throes of fighting the virus.

To illustrate the threat, only 190 domain names included the word ‘corona’ last year, Zanni said. In  March, there were more than 30,000.

“Some are legitimate but most of them are not,” he said. “We’ve also seen a 127 percent increase in exposed desktop protocol endpoints. 

“So now we’re all working at home and the bad guys have realized there are a lot of holes in being connected to a corporate network or other business from home systems.”

Anyone with connectivity is at risk. Phishing scams claiming to be from the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization are a common ruse right now. 

Government agencies number one target

While all businesses are at risk, the majority of cyber attackers target government agencies in search of sensitive data, Zanni said. That impacts businesses as well. 

When Baltimore had to shut down operations after a cyber attack last year, companies were unable to carry out everyday transactions like getting permits approved and bills paid. The city lost millions of dollars in potential and delayed revenue. 

Atlanta and New Orleans also were hit by cyber attacks in the past two years, also costing millions of dollars in recovery costs. 

Lawmakers starting to act  

Attacks like these are prompting new state-level policies regarding whether government agencies should be permitted to pay ransoms in ransomware attacks.

Last year, Congress also introduced the to use the federal government’s procurement power by requiring that devices purchased by the U.S. government meet certain minimum security requirements. That could lead the way for manufacturers to include security in all devices. 

It’s one of many cyber security bills awaiting action in Congress.

Concerned over the rash of COVID-19-related threats, a of major tech groups also is asking Congress to allocate a portion of the next coronavirus stimulus bill to help local and state governments to defend against the costly attacks.

All-in-one solution for online security  

Meanwhile, companies can protect themselves with minimal investment in solutions that do more than just block viruses and malware, Zanni said. 

Acronis SCS and its international parent company, Acronis AIG, are the first to provide integrated security features in one package, he said. 

In addition to endpoint security features like anti-malware and anti-ransomware, they provide backup, disaster recovery, storage, and patch management capabilities. While Acronis SCS exclusively serves US public sector organizations, Acronis AIG serves the commercial market. With Acronis AIG, small and medium-sized businesses with a larger server will pay about $1,500 a year. For a home user, the cost is about $50 per year.

Multi-step authentication to become the norm 

In the near future, extra security measures will become the norm, Zanni believes. 

COVID-19 is accelerating the need for it. Gone are the days when people left their doors unlocked and their keys in their cars, he said.

Digital devices are moving in a similar direction, he said. A safe login and password will no longer be sufficient. Dual factor authentication and integrated cyber security protection will become business as usual. 

“This is just as important as locking the doors of your business at night.”

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