Fortinet surpasses one million NSE certifications issued

Fortinet, a firm providing broad, integrated, and automated cybersecurity solutions, has issued over one million Network Security Expert (NSE) certifications to date, further advancing its commitment to closing the cybersecurity skills gap. 

The eight-level training and certification program is designed to provide technical professionals with independent validation of their security and networking skills and work experience. 

Fortinet's 2022 Global Skills Gap report revealed that 95 per cent of leaders believe technology-focused certifications positively impact their role and their team, while 81 per cent of leaders prefer to hire people with certifications. 

The Fortinet Training Institute aims to provide professionals with the opportunity to gain skills to ward off cyber threats and career growth opportunities, as leaders value certifications. In addition, NSE training curriculum is easily accessible to empower access to learning and is offered in instructor-led, virtual instructor-led, and freely available self-paced training formats.

Importantly, with more than 80% of breaches being attributed to a lack of cyber skills, according to a global 2022 Fortinet report, the cybersecurity skills gap continues to be a top-of-mind concern for organisations. To help close the cyber skills gap, Fortinet, through its Training Advancement Agenda (TAA) and Fortinet Training Institute initiatives, is focused on upskilling security professionals to stay ahead of threats with the following efforts.

The Fortinet Training Institute continuously updates its training with relevant and dynamic content for cyber professionals' current issues and challenges. For example, as part of NSE level 7, the OT security curriculum provides a solid understanding of how to design, implement and operate an OT security solution for critical infrastructures. 

Other topic areas where the Fortinet Training Institute has expanded its curriculum include Zero Trust Network Access and Secure SD-WAN, among others. Additionally, Fortinet offers low-cost labs to further advance skill sets for anyone taking technical, advanced or expert training.

The Fortinet Training Institute curriculum is developed by Fortinet's world-class trainers and curriculum developers with an in-depth knowledge of industry-leading technology and the evolving threat landscape. 

The training curriculum is augmented with FortiGuard Labs' threat intelligence, a global research team comprised of experienced threat hunters, researchers, analysts, engineers, and data scientists. 

In addition, the curriculum is designed to evolve based on the latest threat intelligence from FortiGuard Labs, ensuring that anyone taking training and pursuing certification obtains the most relevant skills and knowledge.

Fortinet Authorised Training Centres (ATCs) are a network of accredited training organisations in more than 130 countries and territories worldwide, teaching in 26 languages. ATCs deliver the Fortinet Training Institute's cybersecurity training in local languages. New ATCs that have recently joined the programme extend the availability of Fortinet's training to security professionals worldwide, including Exclusive Networks (USA), Wavelink (Australia), HRP (Hungary), and DACAS (The Caribbean).

Any company looking to further protect their security posture by advancing all their employees' cyber skill sets and knowledge can easily deploy the Fortinet Training Institute's Security Awareness and Training Service. This service introduced earlier this year is a SaaS-based offering that delivers timely awareness training on today's cybersecurity threats. It helps IT, security, and compliance leaders build a cyber-aware culture where employees recognise and avoid falling victim to cyberattacks.

Fortinet also continues to help organisations build a cyber-aware workforce through its existing Security Awareness and Training Service. In addition, it has a recent initiative tied to the 2022 White House National Cyber Workforce and Education Summit by providing a tailored version of the service available for K-12 school districts in the U.S. free of charge.

With more than 470 authorised academic partners worldwide across more than 90 countries and territories, the Fortinet Training Institute continues to work with education institutions globally to help prepare the future cyber workforce. 

Among the new institutions worldwide that have joined the academic partner program are: Universidad Panamericana (UP) in Mexico, Technological University of Queretaro (UTEQ) in Mexico, KLE Tech University in India, South Regional TAFE in Australia, Università of Tor Vergata of Roma in Italy, Cybersecurity Business School in France, Universitat de les Illes Balears in Spain, Polytechnic Institute of Guarda in Portugal, Högskolan Väst in Sweden, South Texas College in the United States and more. 

As authorised academic partners, these institutions use Fortinet's award-winning technical training in their classrooms and provide students with valuable industry certifications to add to their resumes upon graduation.

"Fortinet has a long history of working to close the cyber skills gap and we are proud to share we recently hit a significant milestone by achieving more than one million Network Security Expert (NSE) certifications issued to date. Continued learning through training and certifications is a critical way to stay ahead of cyber adversaries who are constantly evolving their attack strategies and methods," says John Maddison, EVP of Products and CMO, Fortinet.

"This is why Fortinet's Training Institute is dedicated to offering award-winning cyber training and certifications for security professionals to upskill and advance their knowledge or for those considering reskilling. At the same time, for organisations looking to build cyber awareness in their employees and strengthen their posture, the Fortinet Training Institute offers its Security Awareness and Training Service." 

Thomas Guilloux, Co-founder and Technical and Industrial Director, Cybersecurity Business School, adds, "A key part of our program is the Fortinet Training Institute's NSE training and certifications developed by industry experts, which we leverage to incorporate real-world teachings about critical security areas. Implementing Fortinet's training in our classes and Fortinet security devices in our SOC, IT and OT simulation platform is allowing us to provide a robust curriculum to our students and to further develop the cybersecurity workforce of the future."