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SECURE SITE: Interns work on projects at the security operations center for the Missouri Cybersecurity Center of Excellence.
Tawnie Wilson | SBJ
SECURE SITE: Interns work on projects at the security operations center for the Missouri Cybersecurity Center of Excellence.

Cybersecurity nonprofit works to secure long-term funding

Venture depends on volunteers as it starts first cohort

Posted online

A new nonprofit focused on cybersecurity and developing a workforce in that industry started its first cohort of students last month at the Roy Blunt Jordan Valley Innovation Center.

The Missouri Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, selected most of its 17 students for the cohort from among four Springfield-area universities. The organization set up shop in April inside JVIC, Missouri State University’s advanced research and development hub. Heather Noggle serves as executive director of the nonprofit she formed with fellow entrepreneur Wes Hester and Shannon McMurtrey, associate professor of cyber-risk management at Drury University.

Hester, CEO of Herndon, Virginia-based managed security service provider Foxhole Technology Inc. and a volunteer with the organization, says the MCCoE offers numerous cybersecurity services for small to midsize businesses and local and state governments. Those include risk assessment, penetration testing, security monitoring, development operations support and security training. As a nonprofit, the organization can apply for grants and accept donations, he said, adding it operates on a reduced-fee model with clients.

“We have facility funding for the next two years and our equipment and our software, but no labor,” Hester said of the roughly $1.6 million grant the organization applied for with the help of JVIC and was granted by the state. “So basically, you have Heather and myself volunteering, and we’ve got a few folks that we’re paying part-time to work for the center right now.”

Two missions for MCCoE are to provide cybersecurity services to the regional community and offer workforce development through educational and career hands-on training and certifications. He said the organization trains its interns through a player, coach and mentor model.

“We’re not turning them loose on the networks; they’re supervised,” he said. “We don’t just give them tools and say go do it from your dorm room. We’re actually working with them as professionals.”

Some of the 17 new interns, who are joining two who started in the summer, are from MSU, Drury, Ozarks Technical Community College and Evangel University.

Hester said he’s also in discussions with Southwest Baptist University, and professors have visited the nonprofit’s space. He added a few of the interns are second-career individuals and military service members looking to gain civilian work experience.

“We’re actually trying to get transitioning military to come work here,” he said.

The pay scale ranges $12.30-$20 per hour, depending on expertise and time the intern has been in the program.

“But we only pay them when they’re engaged with a client,” Hester said, declining to disclose its six clients.

Officials have set a goal to work with 15 clients by 2025 and 30 in 2026. Growing the intern number to 25 is a target for 2025, with 35 the goal for the following year.

The hiring needs for tech jobs is clear, Noggle said, although she added many companies want new hires to have certifications and experience. It’s a challenge to meet both those requirements, but the nonprofit wants to aid in that goal.

“There are not a lot of entry-level jobs in cybersecurity already. Our interns know going in that this is a passion,” she said. “They may need to take a job in IT and get a little more experience, but we are hoping to give them some advantages that other people just don’t have by virtue of not doing a program like this.”

For information security analysts, employment is expected to increase 33% over the next decade – much faster than the average for all occupations, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Median pay in 2023 was $120,360.

The internships are intended to be in addition to work or school for participants, Hester said.

“We have some people who work full-time, and so we’re open Mondays and Wednesday nights,” she said, adding the time for most interns equates to about 10 hours per week. “We’re very open with this cohort of interns of here’s where we are, here’s what we’re building. We are building a plane and flying it at the same time, and you’re here and you can help us. You can help us by evaluating whether this is relevant to what you were expecting as you came in. And it’s been really good.”

Looking ahead
Aside from its intern and client goals, the nonprofit wants to eventually build out to a 12-person full-time staff. Noggle said she’s “lightly paid,” and the organization utilizes eight volunteers. Away from MCCoE, she co-owns export compliance software company Export Internet Trade Systems Inc., doing business as Trabex. She also owns Codistac, a consulting agency.

The grant MCCoE received to launch covered elements such as wiring, computers, some of its infill and rent, which is paid to JVIC. However, it didn’t include labor.

Hester said the organization has applied for five additional grants to date. It is still awaiting word on some of them.

“We’re going to keep putting in grants and keep swinging and hope for the best,” Hester said.

As for infill, the nonprofit was able to complete its security operations center, which fills 3,000 square feet in a windowless room designed in black with several rows of desks covered almost end to end with computer monitors. Its back wall is filled with even more monitors that display cybersecurity technology such as endpoint detection and response, along with security information and event management.

“We have 6,000 [square feet], but we ran out of money,” Hester said of the remaining 3,000 square feet that eventually will be dedicated for offices.

Tucked in behind the wall of monitors is a space designed to be a conference room. The space is mostly bare bones apart from a table, chairs and a basil plant.

“We have meetings in here and so it’s not as pretty, but eventually we’ll get it fixed up,” Hester said. “We’ll paint the wall. We’ve got a whiteboard, we’ve got a monitor, we’ve got a projector. So, it’s good enough.”

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