Cybersecurity training course aims to help meet the growing job demand

As computer hacking grows more pervasive, so does the demand at all levels for workers skilled in the field. And where there's a demand, there's a start-up looking to meet it. Cybrary is an online cybersecurity training website that launched in January, and already, the company said, 150,000 people have participated. Like many start-ups, Cybrary aims to fill a market gap with a better, quicker and cheaper service. For now, its courses are free to individuals. Businesses pay a few thousand dollars a month for access to specialized courses. About two dozen businesses and schools have subscribed. One is N2grate, a data center management firm in Washington, D.C.

Using Cybrary is expected to drop the small firm's training costs to $15,000 this year from $50,000, according to N2grate President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Halligan. "It's a fascinating transformation of the corporate training market," he said. Classroom training was inconvenient and expensive, he said. Now classes can be taken on the fly. Recently, on-demand materials proved valuable when his team quickly had to learn about mobile security issues for a Department of Justice project. Niche courses from a provider such as the SANS Institute might be held only a few times a year and only in certain regions.