theCUBE & NYSE @RSA 2024 | Dan Vigdor | ThriveDX

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Dan Vigdor

Member Board Of Directors

Healthe | Eyesafe Display Technology & Standards

play_circle_outline Closing the Cyber Security Gap: ThriveDX's Successful Training Program Fills US Job Market Void

play_circle_outline Empowering Students Globally: The Impact of Co-Created Master's Programs and Instant Training Labs for Cybersecurity

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Dan Vigdor | ThriveDX

Dan Vigdor

Member Board Of Directors Healthe | Eyesafe Display Technology & Standards

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Shelly Kramer

>> Hello and welcome to theCUBE After Dark. I'm Shelly Kramer with theCUBE research team, and we are here at La Mar Restaurant in San Francisco as part of RSA event. And I am so excited, I'm here today with Dan Vigdor, who is the founder of a company called ThriveDX, and what they are doing, as it relates to cyber security training is really, really exciting. Dan, it's great to have you.

Dan Vigdor

>> Hi, Shelly. Great to be here. Thanks for having me in this New York Stock Exchange Open Policy event.

Shelly Kramer

>> Absolutely. Well, I'm so glad our paths crossed. So we were talking a little bit about, I know that you do cyber security training, we're going to talk about that, but part of what you do that I'm so fascinated by is, you train young people at universities to have cyber security training and certifications.

Dan Vigdor

>> Well, we train people from all backgrounds, all sorts of life, from different communities, we train them and then place them in jobs. Adult learners from ages of 18 to 50, people looking for their next career. And as you know, there is a lack of 750,000 cyber security roles just in the United States alone. It's a matter of national security. It's really a problem.

Shelly Kramer

>> Oh, I'm well aware.

Dan Vigdor

>> We solve it not just training people and giving them jobs, not changing their lives, but also protecting the way we live, protecting government, enterprise. It's a real problem. It's a real threat we're facing.

Shelly Kramer

>> Well, and I think part of, though, your value proposition at ThriveDX is really important because I have a couple of kids of my own that I'm getting ready to send to college, and so I pay attention to conversations that parents are having, and I'm seeing a lot of parents of students who are graduating with cyber security degrees, having trouble getting jobs. And so, I think that it's, one, we very much need people with skills, but getting jobs is part of the equation that's really challenging. So I like the part of your value prop in that, not only do we train you, but we help place you in a job, and I think that really is incredibly valuable.

Dan Vigdor

>> It's exactly what we do. It's a ten-month program. It's about 400 hours, part-time, so you can work. We train you and we also train you on LinkedIn Resume and have mock interviews. And then we give you interviews in real positions and places. We have about over 90% placement rate in the first six months after you graduate. So, it's different than an undergraduate or graduate university, which is a way to get a degree, because you get a certificate, but you actually get a chance to get into the cyber security workforce.

Shelly Kramer

>> Got it. Okay. So, talk with me a little bit about how do people find you?

Dan Vigdor

>> Well, we train with about 25 top tier community colleges across America, colleges and universities from the University of Chicago, Broward Community College, University of Miami, University of Chicago. And so, it's a turnkey project where the University of Chicago Cyber Security Bootcamp, so it's overseen by the university. Actually, the University of Chicago Cyber Security Bootcamp just got approved for veterans to use their GI Bill benefits, the first university certificate, non-credit program to actually get approved by the GI Bill in Illinois to be able to use your benefits to pay for it.

Shelly Kramer

>> Oh, that's-

Dan Vigdor

>> So, it's a great way for veterans, they're looking what to do next to come in, train in cyber security. We help them find jobs in the GI Bill and their benefits, help them pay for it.

Shelly Kramer

>> Oh, well, that's awesome. That's awesome. So, tell me about your first day at the show. What are your impressions? Have you had a good day?

Dan Vigdor

>> Well, the show, I think everybody's cyber, cyber, cyber, but everybody's talking about two main things. One is AI, AI, AI, and how it's changing everything we do. Another is cyber security workforce. People are really, really worried about the talent and the talent pipelines to fill the very jobs that are needed.

Shelly Kramer

>> And I think part of the problem here is that you need highly skilled workers in one part of this equation, and then, you've got this other group of talent that really doesn't have a lot of experience. And so, there's certain limits on what you can do with that. So, it's people with just a little bit more training, a little bit more knowledge that are really able to step into some of these roles and make a difference. And that seems to be what you are solving for.

Dan Vigdor

>> Exactly. People that come to our boot camps are highly motivated, so they learn very quickly. They really want to excel and to get those jobs. So even after our training, even though they're entry level, and we can shape them by that specific company needs, they continue to learn afterwards. So we continue to give them upskilling as they go along in their job, and they're so motivated that they start learning by themselves. So, the company that hired them really love our graduates.

Shelly Kramer

>> So, this is a ten-month program that they do with ThriveDX?

Dan Vigdor

>> Well, it's a ten-month program that they do with the university, but we administer the program, we train the program, we have the student success, we have the career services, we do everything. It's our instructors, all of them working in the industry, adjunct professors of that university. The university has complete oversight, so they get a university certificate, and we help them find a job. It's really, let's say, a turkey's solution both for the university and for the learner.

Shelly Kramer

>> Absolutely. Absolutely. So what's next?

Dan Vigdor

>> Well, we already put in, since the last six months, AI tools into our cybersecurity bootcamp. So you're actually learning how to be a cybersecurity stock analyst with using AI tools. And we also have labs that are real-life scenarios, practical skills, like internet site with the vulnerability that you have to solve for. And, through using AI and machine learning, as you go through the labs, we can ascertain and assess you and see what kind of cyber job you're best fitted for. And then we create a personalized adaptive learning type of curriculum for you that's specifically made for you or customizable to the company you want to go work for. So if you want to go work for CrowdStrike, we'd be able to give you content of CrowdStrike for you to learn, so you're ready for that specific job.

Shelly Kramer

>> Oh, wow. That's very exciting. So, how many universities are you partnered with now?

Dan Vigdor

>> Globally, we're at about over 36 universities and community colleges across the world in six different continents. And they have our boot camp. We're also co-creating master's program. And our lab environment, they use for all their students across. In our lab environment, we'll be able to, through AI, also generate immediate training labs for any exploit of vulnerability that comes along. So we'll be able to, the moment there's a vulnerability, be able to have a training lab for it to supply everybody, supply companies, enterprises, governments.

Shelly Kramer

>> Very exciting, very exciting. Well, I'm so glad that you made time for me today. Dan Vigdor with ThriveDX joined us on theCUBE today at RSA. And thank you so much for hanging out with us, and just know that this is a place where you come for all the RSA news. It's Shelly Kramer, we'll see you again.

Dan Vigdor | ThriveDX

search

Shelly Kramer

>> Hello and welcome to theCUBE After Dark. I'm Shelly Kramer with theCUBE research team, and we are here at La Mar Restaurant in San Francisco as part of RSA event. And I am so excited, I'm here today with Dan Vigdor, who is the founder of a company called ThriveDX, and what they are doing, as it relates to cyber security training is really, really exciting. Dan, it's great to have you.

Dan Vigdor

>> Hi, Shelly. Great to be here. Thanks for having me in this New York Stock Exchange Open Policy event.

Shelly Kramer

>> Absolutely. Well, I'm so glad our paths crossed. So we were talking a little bit about, I know that you do cyber security training, we're going to talk about that, but part of what you do that I'm so fascinated by is, you train young people at universities to have cyber security training and certifications.

Dan Vigdor

>> Well, we train people from all backgrounds, all sorts of life, from different communities, we train them and then place them in jobs. Adult learners from ages of 18 to 50, people looking for their next career. And as you know, there is a lack of 750,000 cyber security roles just in the United States alone. It's a matter of national security. It's really a problem.

Shelly Kramer

>> Oh, I'm well aware.

Dan Vigdor

>> We solve it not just training people and giving them jobs, not changing their lives, but also protecting the way we live, protecting government, enterprise. It's a real problem. It's a real threat we're facing.

Shelly Kramer

>> Well, and I think part of, though, your value proposition at ThriveDX is really important because I have a couple of kids of my own that I'm getting ready to send to college, and so I pay attention to conversations that parents are having, and I'm seeing a lot of parents of students who are graduating with cyber security degrees, having trouble getting jobs. And so, I think that it's, one, we very much need people with skills, but getting jobs is part of the equation that's really challenging. So I like the part of your value prop in that, not only do we train you, but we help place you in a job, and I think that really is incredibly valuable.

Dan Vigdor

>> It's exactly what we do. It's a ten-month program. It's about 400 hours, part-time, so you can work. We train you and we also train you on LinkedIn Resume and have mock interviews. And then we give you interviews in real positions and places. We have about over 90% placement rate in the first six months after you graduate. So, it's different than an undergraduate or graduate university, which is a way to get a degree, because you get a certificate, but you actually get a chance to get into the cyber security workforce.

Shelly Kramer

>> Got it. Okay. So, talk with me a little bit about how do people find you?

Dan Vigdor

>> Well, we train with about 25 top tier community colleges across America, colleges and universities from the University of Chicago, Broward Community College, University of Miami, University of Chicago. And so, it's a turnkey project where the University of Chicago Cyber Security Bootcamp, so it's overseen by the university. Actually, the University of Chicago Cyber Security Bootcamp just got approved for veterans to use their GI Bill benefits, the first university certificate, non-credit program to actually get approved by the GI Bill in Illinois to be able to use your benefits to pay for it.

Shelly Kramer

>> Oh, that's-

Dan Vigdor

>> So, it's a great way for veterans, they're looking what to do next to come in, train in cyber security. We help them find jobs in the GI Bill and their benefits, help them pay for it.

Shelly Kramer

>> Oh, well, that's awesome. That's awesome. So, tell me about your first day at the show. What are your impressions? Have you had a good day?

Dan Vigdor

>> Well, the show, I think everybody's cyber, cyber, cyber, but everybody's talking about two main things. One is AI, AI, AI, and how it's changing everything we do. Another is cyber security workforce. People are really, really worried about the talent and the talent pipelines to fill the very jobs that are needed.

Shelly Kramer

>> And I think part of the problem here is that you need highly skilled workers in one part of this equation, and then, you've got this other group of talent that really doesn't have a lot of experience. And so, there's certain limits on what you can do with that. So, it's people with just a little bit more training, a little bit more knowledge that are really able to step into some of these roles and make a difference. And that seems to be what you are solving for.

Dan Vigdor

>> Exactly. People that come to our boot camps are highly motivated, so they learn very quickly. They really want to excel and to get those jobs. So even after our training, even though they're entry level, and we can shape them by that specific company needs, they continue to learn afterwards. So we continue to give them upskilling as they go along in their job, and they're so motivated that they start learning by themselves. So, the company that hired them really love our graduates.

Shelly Kramer

>> So, this is a ten-month program that they do with ThriveDX?

Dan Vigdor

>> Well, it's a ten-month program that they do with the university, but we administer the program, we train the program, we have the student success, we have the career services, we do everything. It's our instructors, all of them working in the industry, adjunct professors of that university. The university has complete oversight, so they get a university certificate, and we help them find a job. It's really, let's say, a turkey's solution both for the university and for the learner.

Shelly Kramer

>> Absolutely. Absolutely. So what's next?

Dan Vigdor

>> Well, we already put in, since the last six months, AI tools into our cybersecurity bootcamp. So you're actually learning how to be a cybersecurity stock analyst with using AI tools. And we also have labs that are real-life scenarios, practical skills, like internet site with the vulnerability that you have to solve for. And, through using AI and machine learning, as you go through the labs, we can ascertain and assess you and see what kind of cyber job you're best fitted for. And then we create a personalized adaptive learning type of curriculum for you that's specifically made for you or customizable to the company you want to go work for. So if you want to go work for CrowdStrike, we'd be able to give you content of CrowdStrike for you to learn, so you're ready for that specific job.

Shelly Kramer

>> Oh, wow. That's very exciting. So, how many universities are you partnered with now?

Dan Vigdor

>> Globally, we're at about over 36 universities and community colleges across the world in six different continents. And they have our boot camp. We're also co-creating master's program. And our lab environment, they use for all their students across. In our lab environment, we'll be able to, through AI, also generate immediate training labs for any exploit of vulnerability that comes along. So we'll be able to, the moment there's a vulnerability, be able to have a training lab for it to supply everybody, supply companies, enterprises, governments.

Shelly Kramer

>> Very exciting, very exciting. Well, I'm so glad that you made time for me today. Dan Vigdor with ThriveDX joined us on theCUBE today at RSA. And thank you so much for hanging out with us, and just know that this is a place where you come for all the RSA news. It's Shelly Kramer, we'll see you again.