Tampa, FL has 23,000 military and civilian workers at MacDill Air Force Base – home to U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCom) and U.S. Central Command (CentCom) — and 38,000 military retirees and surviving spouses living near the base. With one of the largest veteran workforces in the nation, an estimated 92,000 veterans, it’s no wonder the region is also thriving in the cybersecurity department.

In fact, Tampa Florida was just named #1 on WalletHub’s “2019’s Best & Worst Places for Veterans to Live” ranking.

Workforce: Cybersecurity in Tampa

Recent estimates indicate that there could be as many as 3.5 million open cybersecurity positions by 2021, due in large part to the dramatic rise in cybercrime, which is expected to more than triple the number of cybersecurity jobs in the next five years.

To fill the growing demand for cybersecurity experts, Tampa companies are tapping into their veteran workforce. The University of South Florida is home to the Florida Center for Cybersecurity, and as a top college for veterans is uniquely positioned to train local veterans in the cyber space. Examples of Tampa-based cybersecurity companies benefiting from the veteran talent pipeline include ReliaQuest and Focal Point Data Risk, which was included in the Cybersecurity Ventures’ 2018 list of the 500 most innovative cybersecurity companies in the world. Tampa is also home to 1 of 4 SecureSet campuses.

A local veteran entrepreneur:

Erik Maltais is an entrepreneur and a Marine Corps veteran in Tampa. Erik spent one year in Iraq, was selected to serve on the Marine Embassy Security duty and was chosen to augment Whitehouse and POTUS security during George W. Bush’s presidential travels to the Beijing Olympics, Sharm El Sheik, & Berlin.


His company, Immertec provides proprietary, real-time virtual reality software for medical device training and sales. Its software allows any physician in the world to instantly connect and train in VR. They recently came in second place as a 2019 Startup of the Year Winner.  Their website is immertec.com

 

 

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