The Office of Personnel Management has launched an online cybersecurity education program for federal employees and their families in a move to help bolster the cybersecurity workforce, FCW reported Friday.

Chase Gunter writes OPM developed the 20-month Master of Science in Information Security Operations program in partnership with Champlain College Online.

Beth Cobert, OPM acting director, said the program aims to “address critical cybersecurity skills gaps and help address the higher education needs of the federal workforce.”

OPM and Champlain College Online will offer a 50-percent discount through 2017 to federal employees and their families to enroll in the program under the college’s truED alliance, FCW reports.

Cybersecurity professionals will teach enrollees how to counter cyber threats through hands-on training, Gunter reports.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is inviting interested government, academic and corporate personnel to become part of a new working group under the agency-led National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education.

NIST said Thursday the NICE Working Group seeks members to identify new strategies to address the cybersecurity skills gap in the U.S.

The working group will have subgroups for competitions, workforce framework, training and certifications, career development and workforce planning, K-12 and collegiate programs, NIST noted.

NICE program leaders plan to hold a kickoff teleconference on Wednesday to discuss the working group’s objectives and member roles.

Group meetings are scheduled to occur on the fourth Wednesday of each month.

Matt Goodrich, director of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program at the General Services Administration, has said stakeholders believe the program is a potential “market maker” and has influenced how industry gauges cloud security.

He wrote in a blog entry posted Wednesday that cloud service providers, third-party assessors, government agencies and others have also provided feedback over the past six months for further updates to the program.

FedRAMP users have called for increased visibility into the process and program transparency as well as a faster time to authorization, he said.

According to Goodrich, the program will explore potential changes to the authorization process, collaborate with 18F to develop a public dashboard on the FedRAMP website, pilot a new baseline for high-impact security systems and further promote FedRAMP use.

Sarah Zabel, vice director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, believes the Defense Department should go beyond smartphones in its mobility programs, Fedscoop reported Thursday.

Greg Otto writes the Air Force major general also urged DoD to move more quickly in order to achieve “mobile ablement.”

“To have a mobile enable workforce, you need to want it, to demand it and to think mobile in order to bring all the different elements together,” Zabel told audience at an mobilityndjd-hosted forum Thursday.

She recommended that DoD facilitate a bring-your-own-device program that would allow agency employees to use any technology in work environments as long as their devices comply with security policies.

Otto reports DISA has also partnered with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Security Agency to implement public key infrastructure-based derived credentials.

Zabel encouraged vendors to create technology for defense agencies to test the security profile of an application in the marketplace before they can download the apps on mobile devices.

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has said the Energy Department plans to award $50 million in funds to support the development of vehicle technologies that support efforts to achieve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

DOE will focus on projects that deal with the development of electric drive vehicle motors, battery components, plug-in electric vehicles, lubricants, energy storage and combustion systems, Moniz said in a press release issued Thursday.

He also announced that DOE will award $3 million in funds to the National Association of Regional Councils and transportation consortium CALSTART to develop platforms that will work to consolidate the procurement of vehicles and related components.

“Our work refining cars that are efficient, affordable and can plug into the grid will also help propel us to even greater progress on reducing pollution and boosting energy security,” said Moniz.

DOE said in a report that its $8 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan initiative has also helped create at least 35,000 jobs and produce more than 4 million fuel-efficient vehicles.