To help the government and private sectors answer the skills gap and talent shortage threatening cybersecurity, Israeli and Filipino IT professionals partnered with ThriveDX SaaS Ltd. to launch the country's first globally-accredited cyber security school. The goal is to produce local cybersecurity professionals to secure the Philippines from cyber-attacks.
Tatoo Amsili, the CybersCool Defcon, Inc co-founder and director, said, "everything today is related to cybersecurity. In any industry, you need cyber security personnel to secure your system and protect the privacy of your users. Having your own cyber security professional has become very important." Independent studies show a global shortage of cybersecurity talents and an insufficient pool of duly-accredited cybersecurity professionals to meet the increasing demand to fight and prevent cyber attacks. The number of unfilled positions is expected to reach up to 3.5million in 2025. "The first thing to fix this problem is to create manpower and develop the skills. This is why we are putting a lot of focus on providing the first globally standard and hopefully assist the country in improving and providing security professionals," Amsili added.
The school is now accepting enrollment and will start the class in August for private sectors. Amsili also said that "companies and government agencies need to train their own people, and it is not ideal where they rely on third-party providers."
This August, CybersCool Defcon, Inc will offer the course Zero to Hero, an extremely intensive training patterned from the Unit 8200 academy in Israel. Unit 8200 is an elite military unit in the Israel defense forces. In this course, students will get the skill in three months to ensure they can perform the skills needed when they join the company or return to government agencies.
While local cybersecurity professionals will facilitate the classes, the training modules were designed by Israeli cybersecurity experts. Students will be exposed to different real-world scenarios to learn how to fight cyber attacks. Amsili said there would be sixty laboratories where students will experience being exposed to various industries.
"While we encourage government agencies and private companies to get the skills they need to protect themselves from cyber attacks, we also accept private individuals to come and train with us for their career advancement in cybersecurity. There are a lot of kids with talents but limited financial capabilities, so we are also talking about the possibilities of providing these kids with the opportunity and give them a chance to enter the field of cybersecurity." The co-founder of CybersCool Defcon, Inc said at the launch.
Brig. Gen. Rami Efrati, founding member and former head of the Israel National Cyber Bureau (civilian sector), said: "While one school will not solve the shortage of cybersecurity talent, what is essential is that we are giving hope to young people, and we are giving hope to the government that these local cybersecurity talents that the launch of CybersCool Defcon would create will stay in the country and not work outside of the Philippines. We would also like to convey to the Philippines that Israel is ready to share its knowledge on cybersecurity. This is important because if we work together, this will create a considerable change. I also hope that soon we will have a student exchange between the Philippines and Israel where we will learn from each other in cybersecurity."
Efrati also said that every government would like local people working for cybersecurity to secure the country from cyber-attacks. The launch of CyberScool will hopefully create these local cybersecurity professionals to protect the Philippines from these attacks.
"We are building bridges between Israel and the Philippines thru technology and thru cyber security. Israel is here to work with you so that you can create your own solutions, we are here to share our best practices in cyber security" -- His Excellency Ilan Fluss, Ambassador of Israel to the Philippines. At the launch of CybersCool Defcon, Inc. the first globally-accredited cyber school in the Philippines
During the launch, His Excellency Ilan Fluss, Ambassador of Israel to the Philippines, highlights the need for cooperation between the Philippines and Israel. "This is a business initiative, and the Israeli government is very supportive of projects like this. The launch of CybersCool Defcon, Inc shows the excellent relationship between Israel and the Philippines, precisely the vision of the Israeli embassy. We are building a bridge, using technology for the country's capacity building. I see this launch of the first globally-accredited cybersecurity school in the Philippines as a model that other industries would use."