Fortinet today announced that all self-paced advanced security training courses will remain free beyond 2021. Fortinet is committed to developing a diverse cybersecurity workforce by continuing to offer free security training for anyone around the world.
Rob Rashotte, Vice President, Global Training & Technical Field Enablement at Fortinet said, “With over 800,000 registrations for our free training offerings in 2020, it has become clear that Fortinet’s NSE training is fulfilling a huge need for all levels of security professionals. As such we are committed to continue offering the entire catalogue of self-paced Network Security Expert training at no cost until we see the skills gap trend reverse. Together with our ecosystem of academic and commercial training providers as well as government and NGO partnerships, we will continue to provide the industry with a diverse, equitable and inclusive pipeline of security professionals.”
Fortinet’s free training initiative provides learners with the following:
• Access to more than 30 free security courses: These courses are on topics ranging from secure SD-WAN to operational technology (OT) security to cloud security with more courses expected to be added throughout the year. Additionally, pre-recorded lab demos by cybersecurity experts are available for on-demand viewing.
• Preparation for NSE Certification exams: Most of the free courses are from the official curriculum for the Fortinet NSE Certification Program. Fortinet’s Certification Program is an eight-level program that has issued more than half a million certifications.
• Continuing professional credits: Through a partnership with (ISC)2, individuals can use their free training completion – as well as any NSE training course – to gain Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits for CISSP and other (ISC)2 designations. Learners earn one credit for every hour of NSE Training Institute training they do with Fortinet.
Fortinet responded to the rising security concerns due to the pandemic, was by opening its entire Network Security Expert (NSE) Training Institute catalogue of self-paced courses free of charge in April 2020. Through the course of the year, Fortinet saw an increase in registrations for its cyber awareness training – consisting of the NSE Certification Program’s training levels 1-3 – its mid-levels 4-6 designed for a technical audience and levels 7-8 for advanced expertise.
Fortinet also introduced the free Information Security Awareness and Training service. The service leverages the NSE level 1 training and packages it together with a library of awareness assets and administration tools. The service provides organizations with a low barrier, zero-cost solution to get started on an enterprise-wide cybersecurity awareness program for all employees.