The cybersecurity industry requires an additional four million experts to meet escalating demand for protection against cyberthreats, Dwan Jones, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at International Information System Security Certification Consortium (ISC2), has said.
According to her, as the digital space keeps evolving, cyberthreats also tend to grow; therefore, it has become necessary to train, educate and reskill professionals to meet the demand for protection against cyberthreats and safeguard the digital future.
She made this known when speaking at the graduation ceremony of some 200 youth in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi, who had gone through a four-day Cyber Security training organised by Slamm Technologies – an IT and cybersecurity training firm in partnership with ISC2.
The training was on the theme ‘Building a Secure Digital Future’, and had other seasoned experts from the USA and Ghana who took participants through a number of relevant cybersecurity concepts, practical demonstrations and hands-on exercises, and were given certificates at the end of training.
In an interview with B&FT after the event, Executive Director-Slamm Technologies, Francisca Boateng, said this initiative is part of Slamm Foundation’s (Corporate Social Responsibility arm of Slamm Technologies) ‘SLAMM 1 million Campaign’ that aims to educate one million people with basic IT skills and knowledge throughout the country.
She noted that since its launch in 2020, Slamm Foundation has trained over 40,000 people with basic to intermediate skills in IT. “Our mission is to improve global digital literacy, teach computer skills, provide digital tools and invest in digital empowerment. It’s our vision ‘To make digital literacy accessible, affordable, and comprehensible to all’.
“Since the launch of this campaign, we have trained over 40,000 people with basic to intermediate skills, in person and virtually; we have trained people in nine out of the 16 regions in Ghana. Last year, we launched our Nimdee app which teaches basic IT skills in Akan, Ewe, Hausa, Dagbani, Ga, Yoruba, Igbo, French, Spanish and English. Making IT training easily accessible is something we are extremely passionate about,” she said.
Chief Executive Officer, Samuel Boateng – also speaking to the B&FT, noted that due to success stories of some cybersecurity training beneficiaries, for the very first time, it got some sponsorship from the world’s largest IT security firm, ISC2, making it possible to hold two training sessions in Accra and Kumasi.
“For the first time since we started, we are super excited to have a proud sponsor come on board and represent us well. ISC2’s sponsorship also enabled us for the first time to have 2 training sessions concurrently.
“This training is short and has covered a lot, but we have promised all participants to continue this training virtually after today and also help prepare them for the Certified in Cyber Security certification. We also promise to help them with resume/cv prep sessions and interview skills prep,” Mr. Boateng said.
