on attracting greater diversity through the NSE Security Academy Program, Education Outreach Program and Veterans Program as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility
in 2020. Fortinet will further build on this longstanding commitment with a pledge to train
1 million people in the next 5 years.
attainable for all, including women, minorities, veterans and students. Below are key highlights and recent accomplishments contributing to Fortinet’s work thus far to bring new talent into the field and build the future cyber workforce to close the cybersecurity skills gap.
- Cultivating partnerships with business leaders and the public sector: Fortinet collaborates with global leaders to foster a skilled, inclusive and diverse cyber workforce, including IBM, Salesforce and the World Economic Forum. Through our Education Outreach Program, partnerships extend to various sectors, including academia, government and nonprofits, to ensure all populations – such as women, minorities and veterans – are provided with opportunities and resources for a career in cyber. For example, in the last 2 years alone, Fortinet has certified more than 2,000 veterans and their spouses
- Momentum with the NSE Certification Program: The Certification Program is an eight-level training and certification program designed to provide technical professionals with independent validation of their network security skills and experience. With more than 680,000 certifications issued and more than 1 million hours of training consumed from the onset of the pandemic to now alone, the award-winning NSE Certification Program continues to gain traction by offering one of the industry’s top cybersecurity training programs. Through this program, Fortinet is helping professionals and others to learn new skills, reskill or upskill in cybersecurity.
- Building a Cyber-Aware Workforce with the Information Security Awareness and Training Service: Fortinet is helping develop a cyber-aware workforce with its Information Security Awareness and Training Service,
introduced in 2020 free of cost for organizations of all sizes. Fortinet’s Information Security Awareness and Training Service offers industry-leading cybersecurity awareness components to educate people about today’s cyber threats, such as phishing, social engineering, and ransomware attacks, and how
to protect against them. The awareness and training service is suitable for the entire workforce, from technical to non-technical employees and contractors. Additionally, this free service was developed in alignment with NIST guidelines: NIST 800-50 and NIST 800-16. - Developing OT Skills through Training and Career Pathways: With critical infrastructures being a target for many recent cyber attacks, it is crucial for OT organizations to have the proper security and skilled professionals to protect themselves. Fortinet has introduces a new OT security course as part of its NSE
level 7 certification to expand technical skills for securing OT environments. OT security is also covered in NSE 4, NSE 5 and NSE 6 courses. Additionally, adding to its four existing pathways, Fortinet recently released a new education pathway focused on Operational Technology with information on the potential job opportunities that exist related to this environment. This new OT education pathway serves as a roadmap on what training and certifications are helpful for anyone exploring a career in OT security roles and aligns to the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education’s (NICE) cybersecurity workforce work roles.






































