Kathy Gibson is at the Mimecast Cyber Resilience Summit – The opportunity divide is possibly the biggest challenge to social justice.
This is the word from Peter Bauer, CEO and co-founder of Mimecast, who adds: “At the same time, while we have a shortage of skills in our organisations, the solution could be hidden plain sight.”
Sandro Bucchianeri, group chief security officer of Absa, points out that there will be more than 3-million vacancies in cybersecurity by the end of next year.
The Absa Cybersecurity Academy in Johannesburg seeks to redress the balance.
“We take marginalised kids and give them a very sought after skill – cybersecurity,” Bucchianeri says. “More importantly, whether with Absa or other companies that need skills, we get them a job.”
Bucchianeri explains that the students come straight out of high school and complete a three-year course.
The training gives youngsters an A+, N+ and Cisco CyberOps certification, as well as other skills like design thinking.