San Antonio-based NukuDo has opened a cybersecurity training center in Plano and enrolled its first 15 Dallas-area trainees. [Photo: nuKudo]
Workforce development, training and staffing company nuKudo recently opened an office and cybersecurity training center in Plano to help produce the next crop of specialists in the fast-growing field.
Dean Gefen is CEO of nuKudo. [Photo: nuKudo]
Dean Gefen, founder and CEO of nuKudo, told Dallas Innovates the cybersecurity training center enrolled its first 15 Dallas-area students this summer. The free six-month training program offers pay and benefits to students, who don’t need a college degree or experience in either IT or cybersecurity.
Inside the Plano cybersecurity training center
The Plano center is nuKudo’s second training center. The first opened in 2024 at the company’s North American headquarters in San Antonio.
Gefen told Dallas Innovates the company employs 10 people in Plano who work on cybersecurity career development, training and staffing. Students gain “real-world experience rather than relying on a less immersive approach,” he said.
The company accepts fewer than 1% of applicants for the training program. Why? NuKudo said it maintains “exceptionally high standards to ensure every graduate is industry-ready and capable of handling real-world cybersecurity challenges.”
Training ‘talented people’
NuKudo’s training cohorts generate career opportunities for “talented people,” such as the 15 students in the Plano cohort, and help employers fill high-demand cybersecurity roles, Gefen said. NuKudo offers each graduate the opportunity for up to 3 years of employment in a cybersecurity role.
“Organizations do not just receive candidates. They gain professionals who have been carefully selected, intensively trained and supported through a structured employment model,” he said.
“After training, our associates are placed in meaningful roles and continue to build experience over a three-year professional commitment,” Gefen said.
High pay, high demand
Cybersecurity roles appear to be plentiful and lucrative.
CyberSeek said Texas had nearly 42,600 job openings for cybersecurity specialists in the 12 months ending in April 2025. As of August 2026, advertised annual salaries for cybersecurity roles in Texas averaged $123,875, according to ZipRecruiter.
“The demand for highly skilled cybersecurity professionals has never been greater. Organizations across industries are willing to pay top dollar to attract experts who can safeguard their digital environments,” Programs.com said.
Cybersecurity training in DFW
NuKudo joins a growing set of cybersecurity training programs in Plano and across Dallas-Fort Worth.
Richardson-based workforce development organization UpskillU offers cybersecurity and AI training, for example. And the University of North Texas at Dallas recently launched a bachelor’s degree program in cybersecurity.
“Our goal is to differentiate cybersecurity education and offer an undergraduate degree that ensures students are career-ready for the opportunities ahead,” Jason Garrett, dean of the College of Business and Technology at UNT Dallas, said in a statement.
R E A D N E X T
The Addison-based company’s new aviation campus, near Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport, will provide flight training for students in the university’s aviation program. It also will be home to Thrust Flight’s airline pilot training and aircraft mechanic training programs, both open to the public.
Fresh off a 2026 rebrand built around AI, the education company is expanding its university partnerships, rolling out new certificate programs with Virginia Tech, UC Santa Barbara and the University of Oklahoma.
Gov. Greg Abbott joined company executives to announce the investment, which is part of Caterpillar’s 5-year, $100M effort to support manufacturing’s digital transformation.
The grant will help launch Heart of a Mustang, a campuswide effort aimed at weaving character development into the undergraduate experience.
The cumulative milestone reached by TrendAI, whose U.S. headquarters is in Irving, underscores how quickly AI is reshaping cybersecurity spending — and how the AWS Marketplace captures that growth.
The two organizations will unify business functions under the AT&T PAC umbrella while each keeps its own artistic identity and leadership, with combined operations expected in early 2027.
MOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes signed a master franchise agreement with Great USA Foods LLC to expand into the United Arab Emirates. The chain already has locations in Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, in addition to 75 restaurants across the United States.
The all-cash deal is expected to add $50 million in revenue within its first year as Diodes expands into the fast-growing automated test equipment market.
Two new reports — one from Cushman & Wakefield, another from JLL — put North Texas and the Lone Star State at the center of the global data center boom.
The company signed an engineering agreement with South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries. Each unit is designed to deliver 50 megawatts of capacity. They will be built in a shipyard and moored beside an existing power plant.