Republican Gov. Paul LePage, the Maine Office of Information Technology and the Maine Department of Education are backing a new program to get high school girls interested in cybersecurity.

CyberStart was created by a national company and was first piloted last summer.

Only 5 percent of the 3,500 participants were girls. That prompted creation of the GirlsGoCyberStart program designed for high school girls.

Maine students who participate in GirlsGoCyberStart will be doing so alongside students from more than a dozen other states.

The program that uses online games of discovery to introduce high school girls to the field, which is poised for job growth in coming years.

Education Commissioner Robert Hasson the program "offers young women in high school an opportunity to discover their aptitude and learn basic cybersecurity skills."