BCR Cyber opens no-cost December cybersecurity training for Maryland residents

BCR Cyber is launching a free ICE-T cohort on Dec. 7 for Maryland residents in EARN Maryland and SNAP E&T programs, with training aimed at helping beginners move into higher-paying cyber and IT jobs. The six-month program adds a new governance, risk and compliance track tied to Maryland’s push for jobs that pay at or above the regional median wage.

Why it matters: - The free cohort targets Maryland residents who are new to IT or cybersecurity and need an on-ramp into the field. - The program is designed to lead to jobs paying at or above the regional median wage, which is the goal of Maryland’s new Strategic Expansion funding. - BCR Cyber says the program is meant to help close the state’s shortage of IT and cyber workers.

What happened: - BCR Cyber announced a no-cost Intrusion Countermeasures Education and Training Program, or ICE-T, cohort starting Dec. 7. - The program is open to qualified participants in Maryland through the Maryland Department of Labor’s EARN Maryland program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s SNAP Employment and Training program. - The cohort is funded in part through $4.7 million in EARN grant awards tied to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and the Maryland Department of Labor.

The details: - ICE-T is a six-month course. - The program begins with training and certification in CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+. - Participants then move into one of two tracks: SOC Operations Analyst I and Fundamentals of AI in Cybersecurity, or Governance, Risk and Compliance - Applied Fundamentals. - The GRC-AF track is new for this cohort. - BCR Cyber says all training includes hands-on learning through the BCR Cyber Series 3000 cyber range. - GRC-AF covers security governance, risk assessment and compliance frameworks, including the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, ISO/IEC 27001 and SOC 2. - The GRC-AF track ends with a practical exercise in which participants assess controls, gather evidence and produce compliance findings during live incident scenarios. - The program is built for Maryland residents with no prior IT or cyber background. - BCR Cyber’s consortium of more than 40 cybersecurity employers helped shape the training, including Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen Hamilton and Accenture. - Those employers also recruit from the ICE-T graduate pool for open roles.

Between the lines: - Maryland’s new Strategic Expansion component is steering workforce dollars toward training that connects more directly to hiring demand. - BCR Cyber is using the new funding structure to add a compliance-focused path that matches employer demand for governance and risk talent, not just technical operations roles. - The company’s employer consortium gives the program a built-in hiring pipeline, which can make the training more job-aligned than a standalone certificate course.

What’s next: - Prospective participants can review qualification requirements and apply at the ICE-T application page. - BCR Cyber will run the new cohort beginning Dec. 7. - The company expects graduates to move into governance, risk and compliance roles at or above Maryland’s median wage.

The bottom line: - BCR Cyber is pairing free entry-level cyber training with a direct path to higher-paying jobs for Maryland residents who qualify through EARN Maryland or SNAP E&T.