A new personnel system that will help the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recruit, develop and retain top cybersecurity professionals was launched on Nov. 15.

The Cybersecurity Talent Management System (CTMS) was created in response to the challenge of filling over 1,500 federal government vacancies in cybersecurity in early 2021, SecureWorld said.

“This new system will enable our Department to better compete for cybersecurity professionals and remain agile enough to meet the demands of our critical cybersecurity mission,” Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the DHS, said in a press release. 

CTMS will screen applicants, competitively compensate employees and reduce hiring time in the DHS.

Employees hired through CTMS will join the new DHS Cybersecurity Service, a federal cybersecurity team that protects the U.S.’ infrastructure and Americans from cybersecurity threats, the press release said.

“The DHS Cybersecurity Service will ramp up our ability to recruit, develop and retain a top tier diverse cybersecurity workforce, one that is skilled and ready to combat evolving threats,” Mayorkas said in a video. “It will also increase access to public service careers in cybersecurity, modernize our department’s ability to recruit mission-critical talent and enable us to better compete for the very best experts.”

DHS Cybersecurity Service employees engage in several duties to protect systems, networks and information, according to the Cybersecurity Service website.

“We secure federal government information systems; we assess and counter evolving cybersecurity risks; we respond to cybersecurity incidents; we strengthen the security and resilience of critical infrastructure; we prevent and disrupt criminal use of cyberspace,” the website said.