Fortinet Joins the European Commission’s Cybersecurity Skills Academy Initiative to Provide Learning Opportunities Across the European Union

SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Rob Rashotte, Vice President of Global Training and Global Field Enablement at Fortinet
“Fortinet is committed to making cybersecurity education and training accessible to all to address the global talent shortage; public-private partnerships play a vital role in this effort. Our collaboration with the European Commission’s Cybersecurity Skills Academy is aligned with our goal of providing cybersecurity training to 1 million people globally by 2026. We look forward to providing more learning opportunities to individuals across all 27 countries of the European Union to develop the cyber workforce in the region.”

News Summary

Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT), the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, today announced it has joined the European Commission’s Cybersecurity Skills Academy initiative. Through the Fortinet Training Institute, Fortinet pledges to offer its award-winning cybersecurity training and security awareness curriculum to up to 75,000 individuals for free in Europe over the next three years. This pledge is designed to help reduce the cybersecurity skills shortage across the European Union (EU), further contributing to Fortinet’s global goal set in 2021 to train 1 million people worldwide in cybersecurity across a five-year span.

Developing the EU Cybersecurity Workforce to Enhance the Region’s Resilience
Increasingly, adversaries’ tactics are becoming more sophisticated, and they are rapidly identifying ways to evade security controls. Yet many business leaders do not have the security staff needed to adequately protect their organization’s networks. Roughly 40% of EU-based IT decision-makers find it challenging to recruit, hire, and retain qualified security professionals, and almost 50% say it is difficult to meet their diversity goals of hiring more women, military veterans, and individuals from minority backgrounds.

The Cybersecurity Skills Academy, introduced by the European Commission in 2023, aims to help close the cybersecurity skills gap in the EU by bringing together private and public entities to promote cybersecurity skills and develop the workforce. The Academy offers a single point of entry for individuals, academic institutions, and organizations to access cybersecurity training, certifications, and funding opportunities.

By joining this important initiative, Fortinet will offer its Fortinet Training Institute’s Certification program curriculum through the Cybersecurity Skills Academy to further increase access to cybersecurity awareness training to develop essential skill sets and help individuals grow in their security careers or start in the field.

Advancing Fortinet’s Commitment to Close the Global Cybersecurity Skills Gap
Fortinet’s involvement in the European Commission’s Cybersecurity Skills Academy initiative builds on its longstanding commitment to address the cybersecurity skills gap worldwide.

The Fortinet Training Institute serves IT and security professionals, students and educators, and underserved communities, including women and veterans, through its various programs including the Academic Partner program and Education Outreach program. To further help advance this work, Fortinet is a part of various public-private partnerships, including participating in the White House’s National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy commitments by introducing free security awareness training for primary and secondary school educators and students in the United States. This free training has now expanded to school districts in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Brazil. All these efforts contribute toward Fortinet’s goal to train 1 million people globally in cyber by 2026.
  
Additional Resources

• Learn about Fortinet’s free cybersecurity training, which includes broad cyber awareness and product training. As part of the Fortinet Training Advancement Agenda (TAA), the Fortinet Training Institute also provides training and certification through the Network Security Expert (NSE) Certification, Academic Partner, and Education Outreach programs.
• Learn more about FortiGuard Labs threat intelligence and research and Outbreak Alerts, which provide timely steps to mitigate breaking cybersecurity attacks.
• Learn more about Fortinet’s FortiGuard Security Services portfolio.
• Read about how Fortinet customers are securing their organizations.
• Follow Fortinet on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Subscribe to Fortinet on our blog or YouTube.

About Fortinet

Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) is a driving force in the evolution of cybersecurity and the convergence of networking and security. Our mission is to secure people, devices, and data everywhere, and today we deliver cybersecurity everywhere you need it with the largest integrated portfolio of over 50 enterprise-grade products. Well over half a million customers trust Fortinet's solutions, which are among the most deployed, most patented, and most validated in the industry. The Fortinet Training Institute, one of the largest and broadest training programs in the industry, is dedicated to making cybersecurity training and new career opportunities available to everyone. FortiGuard Labs, Fortinet’s elite threat intelligence and research organization, develops and utilizes leading-edge machine learning and AI technologies to provide customers with timely and consistently top-rated protection and actionable threat intelligence. Learn more at https://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet Blog, and FortiGuard Labs.

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Media Contact:	Investor Contact:	Analyst Contact:
Stephanie Lira Fortinet, Inc. 408-235-7700 pr@fortinet.com	Peter Salkowski Fortinet, Inc. 408-331-4595 psalkowski@fortinet.com	Brian Greenberg Fortinet, Inc. 408-235-7700 analystrelations@fortinet.com