CORRECTION: This article was updated Wednesday, June 9, 2021 to correct the spelling of Michael Troisi's name. It has been fixed below.

ORLANDO, Fla. — The University of Central Florida says even before recent massive cyberattacks, cybersecurity jobs were in high demand — way more jobs than people to fill them. 

​In fact, this heat map of the U.S. shows hundreds of thousands of cybersecurity jobs available. The darker blue the state is, the more jobs are open. Florida is one of the highest in the country with nearly 22,000 job openings.

UCF graduate student Michael Troisi said he believes the recent attacks, along with more people working for their employers from home, will increase the need for cybersecurity professionals.

“There’s definitely always a cat-and-mouse game where the defenders have to get better than the attackers, and then they do so — then that leaves the attackers to increase their skillset to surpass the defenders — and then it goes back and forth,” Troisi said.

Troisi just graduated from UCF’s informational technology program and is enrolled in a new cybersecurity and privacy master's degree program that the university will offer beginning in the 2021 fall semester. He's already working for a local company that helps other companies guard against cybersecurity threats.

Troisi encourages anyone passionate about information technology and knowledgeable about computers to consider a similar career path.

“The salaries are usually higher — and it’s a pretty good place to work, hopefully — but the skillsets are valuable, and companies want to keep you there because you keep them safe,” he said.

UCF was recently awarded nearly $3 million from the National Science Foundation that will, through scholarships, help pay for the education of 22 students enrolled in cybersecurity curriculum at the university.