Young Kenyans will be trained in cybersecurity as the world celebrates Cybersecurity month, which is marked every October. The development, which will be carried out by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) and telecommunications company Huawei, seeks to spread additional awareness about cybersecurity.
The move will set up a boot camp for students attending colleges and universities from different parts of Kenya. So far, it has been revealed that the arrangement has attracted more than 1700 students who want to take part in the training program. The three-day training session is set to run from October 17th to 19th 2022 and is one of the highlights of the month-long celebrations and educational activities designed to build the country’s cyber security capacity and cyber-risk preparedness.
The session also comes on the back of the recent launch of a new National Cybersecurity Strategy 2022 by the National Computer and Cybercrimes Coordination Committee (NC4). A key goal of the strategy is to build national cyber security capacity, including developing more local specialized expertise.
Furthermore, it will include a Huawei Certification e-learning course on cyber security, virtual lab exercises, on-site training, and mentorship from experts within the field. These sessions and courses are geared at preparing participants for a career in cybersecurity and forming an initiative is also one of the activities under the Technical Cooperation Agreement signed by CA and Huawei earlier in the year.
Overall, the training targets to build capacity amongst technology students to ensure secure networks and cyberspace.
Locally, there are less than 2000 certified cybersecurity experts. The annual demand for the profession is 10,000.
Quotes
Ezra Chiloba, Director-General of the CA, stated that, “The future of Kenya’s economy is going to be driven by the digital space and cyber security is critical. We are working with Huawei, who are bringing on board their expansive experience in this sector, and I want to encourage young people who are undertaking courses and are looking forward to participating in the digital economy to invest their time and resources in understanding the future of cyber security.”
Will Meng, CEO of Huawei Kenya noted, “For over 20 years in Kenya, Huawei has helped build secure networks across the country that have brought economic growth, and we are pleased to work with the CA to provide training to students to enhance their capacity to operate networks and systems securely, and to be safe online”
