Cyber professionals rank Cranston in top 50 cities

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 3/1/17

By JACOB MARROCCO Consumer information website Goodcall released a study on Feb. 15 featuring the top 50 cities in the union for cybersecurity professionals, and there were some usual suspects. The list features a litany of cities from California, with

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Cyber professionals rank Cranston in top 50 cities

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Consumer information website Goodcall released a study on Feb. 15 featuring the top 50 cities in the union for cybersecurity professionals, and there were some usual suspects.

The list features a litany of cities from California, with Newport Beach as high as No. 4, and Columbia, Maryland, taking the top spot. However, towards the bottom of the list, sits an anomaly sandwiched between Largo, Florida, and Sunnyvale, California.

Cranston is ranked No. 48.

Cranston managed to be the only city in New England and just one of three in the Northeast to land on the list, along with Jersey City (No. 3) and Toms River (44) in New Jersey. The study was based on four factors: Available jobs, salary potential, affordability and amenities

“I’m proud to see Cranston land on yet another list of one of the best places to live or work in America,” Mayor Allan Fung said in a statement to the Herald. “What goodcall.com points out about Cranston is what has attracted so many people in the city in recent years - great public services, convenient access to jobs across the region, good schools and a strong local economy.”

The best score the city received was in affordability, which according to the study took into account “the median gross rent as a percentage of household income taken from the American Community Survey 2015 one-year estimates.” This figure counted toward 30 percent of the overall score, and Cranston was tied for 12th among the top 50 cities with a score of 29.1.

“It’s really isn’t,” Netcenergy Vice President of Engineering Peter Nelson said when asked if it’s a surprise to see Cranston on the list. “It’s been really good, my wife has lived here for quite some time and her parents still live in Cranston. Mayor Fung in particular has done a great job staying on top of tech and what’s going on in the cyber world and he’s been very supportive of any initiatives.”

Job availability and salary potential were also worth 30 percent of the overall ranking. The latter number was determined through how many full-time positions were listed on indeed.com under either “cybersecurity” or “information security.” Cranston fell near the middle of the pack at No. 31 with a score of .0370.

Cranston was ranked No. 26 in salary potential with a 1.827 figure, which was calculated comparing the “median salary” for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Information Security Analysts to the area’s median.

Finally, amenities of the city were worth 10 percent. These included areas such as entertainment venues and restaurants adjusted per 1,000 citizens. Cranston fell in the bottom 10 on the list in this category, but its scores in the more vital sections carried it into the top 50 overall.

“Cybersecurity is a fast-growing field due to the increasing risk that businesses, governments and consumers face in cyberspace,” Rep. Jim Langevin, one of the state’s most significant proponents of the industry, said. “Building the workforce we need to tackle this challenge will be an important economic driver, and I proud that Cranston – and the state of Rhode Island more broadly – are positioning themselves to take advantage of this opportunity.”

Nelson echoed some of Langevin's concerns, saying that educating users on how to keep themselves safe in the cyber landscape is paramount.

“Email is still the primary way of hackers getting in or malicious content getting in,” Nelson said. “Educating users on how to watch for that stuff and what to do if they are seeing will remain in place for quite some time.”

Nelson added that Cranston benefits from the “tech expertise” coming out of Boston, as it has helped transform the city into a hub for cybersecurity.

“It’s an advantage for my customers [and] they’re getting the best in security advances,” Nelson said.

For more information, the full study can be found at www.goodcall.com/data-center/2017-best-cities-cybersecurity-professionals.

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