The cybersecurity skills shortage is a problem for businesses of all sizes and in all industries. To address this problem, cybersecurity vendor Fortinet has committed to educating one million individuals worldwide over the next five years through its cybersecurity training, certification, career-growth, and employment-assistance initiatives.
Fortinet’s free training program was expanded earlier this year. In April 2020, the vendor launched the Network Security Experts (NSE) Training Institute, and in January, it made all of the self-paced courses free, in order to address the cybersecurity expert shortage caused by the pandemic. According to Fortinet, the NSE Certification Program includes eight levels of training and certification and has granted over 680,000 certificates and over 1 million hours of training to date.
In the wake of recent assaults on critical infrastructure, Fortinet has added a new operational technology (OT) security course to its NSE level 7 certification to broaden its OT skills training offerings.
The NSE training programs contribute to Fortinet’s Training Advancement Agenda (TAA), which seeks to make cybersecurity training and employment opportunities available to all. Through its NSE, Education Outreach, and Veterans initiatives, Fortinet aims to engage with IBM, Salesforce, the World Economic Forum, and other commercial and governmental sectors to develop a skilled, inclusive, and diverse cyber workforce.