The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) welcomed six university teams to participate in this year's U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) CyberForce Competition earlier this month. This was the first year NREL took part in the competition, which included 106 teams hosted at 10 national laboratories across the country.

CyberForce aims to inspire and develop the next generation of energy sector cybersecurity professionals. With billions of new intelligent, connected electronics entering the electric grid every year, the emerging cybersecurity workforce will play an especially important role in defending critical infrastructures. Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that by 2021 cybercrime will cost the world in excess of $6 trillion annually and that the global shortage of cybersecurity professionals could reach 3.5 million.

Read the full press release.