Pluralsight’s Bri Frost on Future-Proofing Cybersecurity Workforce

Bri Frost, director of security and IT ops curriculum at Pluralsight, said government agencies can strengthen their cybersecurity posture by prioritizing continuous, targeted training and upskilling their IT teams. 

In an article Carahsoft published, Frost wrote that agencies face mounting challenges in assembling IT teams that can handle today’s multifaceted cyberthreats. 

She noted that IT staff are often strong in operations but may lack cross-disciplinary skills in cybersecurity, cloud and artificial intelligence, which are needed to tackle today’s complex threats.

How Can Agencies Align Skills With Mission Needs?

According to Frost, agencies can take a more strategic approach by adopting a skills-first workforce model. This means moving beyond reactive, ad hoc training and focusing instead on role-based upskilling and scenario-based learning.

“Relevancy and efficiency are the main goals. People are more willing to learn and more likely to retain new information when it’s relevant to their day-to-day activities and when they can see the impact and benefit,” she said.

Agencies should design learning paths tied to specific mission needs. Frost added that practical, hands-on experience is crucial to ensure teams are prepared when real-world incidents occur.

She also emphasized the importance of allowing employees to experiment with emerging AI tools.

“Threat actors have already integrated AI into their attack campaigns, and it’s essential for government agencies to get ahead of those threats,” Frost noted.

How Can Leaders Foster a Culture of Continuous Learning?

Frost stressed that the most important goal for skills development is fostering a continuous learning culture, which is backed from the top down. Leadership engagement, she said, sets the tone for an organization’s commitment to readiness.

“Leaders should encourage learning and set an example by engaging in training themselves. They can help establish an environment where upskilling is ongoing, measured and tied directly to mission readiness,” she added.

Supporting Hands-On Cyber Training

According to Frost, PluralSight provides agencies with structured, data-driven tools to address skills gaps and strengthen their cybersecurity posture. Frost said the company’s role- and skill-based learning paths align with government frameworks such as the Defense Department Cyber Workforce Framework, ensuring that training meets federal standards.

For its government customers, the Pluralsight executive said the company designs and customizes training programs that build expertise across cybersecurity, IT, cloud and AI disciplines, helping teams quickly develop mission-critical capabilities. The company’s high-impact courses prepare professionals to defend against real-world cyberthreats by teaching them to recognize and counter the same techniques used by attackers.

“For the practical application component, Pluralsight offers hands-on experiences in sandboxes, isolated lab environments and cyber ranges that accurately replicate the complexity of IT networks to enable practitioners to learn by doing in simulated real-world scenarios,” Frost added.