The Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA) works with local, state, federal, and tribal partners, as well as those in the industry, to support and secure cyber infrastructure.

“Cybersecurity is just essential to the basic functioning of our economy as we have just become more and more interconnected,” says Alaina Clark, assistant director for stakeholder engagement at CISA.

Everybody has a role in cybersecurity and should feel empowered to take action to protect themselves, she adds.

Learn more: Free online courses to learn to protect yourself digitally.

“We want cybersecurity to become a kitchen table conversation across the country,” Clark tells Fortune.

But with more than 570,000 open cybersecurity jobs in the U.S.—a 35% increase in the last year—according to CISA’s National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies, there is a growing need for experts in the field. These large vacancies have even caught the attention of the Biden administration.

White House action

This past July, the Biden administration’s Office of the National Cyber Director released a new National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy to help meet the immediate and long-term cyber workforce needs.

On the macro level, the U.S. needs a strong cybersecurity workforce to maintain a leading role in security and resilient next-generation technologies and infrastructure, Clark says.

“The talent gap is just a major issue, and the consequences of the talent shortages are far-reaching,” Clark notes. “Just impacting organizations across our country—when you think of federal government, state government, local government, tribal governments, industry, large, small, and medium businesses.”

CISA’s goal is to fill the gaps with a diverse and talented workforce, Clark says, in order to help meet the challenges of today and the future. Efforts by the agency to reduce the talent gap include the CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service program as well as Federal Cyber Defense Skilling Academy.

The new strategy report also notably cites a lack of diversity in the cybersecurity industry, with women making up only 26% of the cyber workforce. The agency is working to help women and neurodivergent individuals become more educated and feel welcome in the field.

“We want the cyber workforce to be representative of our nation. And so just like in cybersecurity overall, when it comes to the workforce, you know, we all have a role to play,” Clark says.

But overall, she says no matter people’s background, they can have a role in cybersecurity, especially with there being so many growing job opportunities in government and the private sector. Clark herself admitted that she doesn’t have a technical background. 

“Even if you’re not interested in cybersecurity, you should be because you don’t need a technical background,” Clark says. “So, that’s one thing I want individuals to be mindful of is there are so many different types of ways to support cybersecurity.”

Staying safe online

Beyond careers, Clark says knowing the best cybersecurity practices is important for all individuals. In order to spread this awareness, the agency partners each year with the National Cybersecurity Alliance to declare October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

This year, CISA launched its Secure Our World program to highlight four key ways for individuals to stay safe online:

• Recognizing and reporting phishing 
• Using strong passwords
• Turning on multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• Updating software 

“We want people to feel that cyber is something that they can do,” Clark notes. “So, there are four easy steps that we have outlined. And we don’t want individuals to think well, I just bought this device or this technology or this software, it’s secure. We want them to feel that they know how to check.”