Cisco committed to training an additional 200,000 students in the U.S., and Fortinet announced a new free security awareness training program for the U.S. K-12 school districts following the White House’s push to solve the cyber talent shortage that impacts every industry. 

National Cyber Director Chris Inglis convened a National Cyber Workforce and Education Summit at the White House this week to address the more than 700,000-person security talent gap. To lead the effort, the U.S. government introduced a 120-day Cybersecurity Apprenticeship Sprint, working with private sectors to create apprenticeship programs in the security industry.

At the summit, Cisco announced its plan to extend its skill training program to additional 200,000 students in the U.S. over the next three years.

The company’s Networking Academy already offered networking and security training to more than 2 million students in the nation, which is built on the partnership with nearly half of the community and technical colleagues, and 48 of 107 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the U.S., according to Fran Katsoudas, EVP and chief people, policy and purpose officer at Cisco.

“While the cyber workforce deficit constitutes a near- and long-term threat to our national and economic security, it also represents an opportunity to employ a more diverse and inclusive workforce in jobs with low barriers to entry and substantial income potential,” Katsoudas wrote in a blog post. “To close this gap and leverage the related employment opportunities, we need to ensure that cybersecurity training and education is available to broader segments of society who use information and communications technology in our rapidly changing world.”  

Fortinet made a pledge last year to train 1 million people globally through its cybersecurity training, certification, career growth, and employment-assistance programs.

The vendor first introduced the Network Security Experts (NSE) Training Institute in April 2020, and last January it made all the self-paced courses available for free in part to respond to the pandemic-led cybersecurity professionals shortage crisis.

The institute’s Academic Partner program allows schools to integrate the NSE training and certification courses into their curriculum for students. Currently, Fortinet has more than 400 academic partners from over 90 countries and territories, according to the vendor.

Fortinet’s recent research showed that the security skills shortage can be linked to many breaches. 

To combat cyber attacks on educational institutions, Fortinet announced a new free training program at the White House Summit, SVP Sandra Wheatley noted. 

The move is to prevent school staff and faculty from falling victim to popular threat methods such as social engineering attempts. The free service is expected to reach more than 8 million faculty and staff across the U.S. starting this fall, according to Fortinet.