Fortinet to offer free cybersecurity training till end of 2021

Fortinet has said it will extend its free cybersecurity training offering to the end of 2021.

As Covid-19 led to the exponential increase of teleworkers, the need for securing remote networks and users became a top priority for organisations. IT teams already challenged with finding security professionals due to the skills gap were faced with an even greater need for expertise to securely transition to a remote workforce.

Fortinet responded by opening its entire Network Security Expert (NSE) Training Institute catalogue of self-paced courses free of charge in April 2020. There have been more than 800,000 registrations since opening these courses to the public, the company says.

Fortinet also introduced free Information Security Awareness and Training service. The service leverages the NSE level 1 training and packages it together with a library of awareness assets and administration tools. The service provides organisations with a low barrier, zero-cost solution to get started on an enterprise-wide cybersecurity awareness programme for all employees.

Today, the company offers access to more than 30 free security courses. The courses cover topics ranging from secure SD-WAN to operational technology (OT) security to cloud security with more courses expected to be added throughout the year. Additionally, pre-recorded lab demos by cybersecurity experts are available for on-demand viewing.

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Most of the free courses are from the official curriculum for the Fortinet NSE Certification Programmeme. Fortinet’s Certification Programme is an eight-level programme that has issued more than half a million certifications, the company says.

Fortinet has also entered into a partnership with security training organisation (ISC)2, allowing individuals to use their free training completion – as well as any NSE training course – to gain Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits for CISSP and other (ISC)2 designations. Learners earn one credit for every hour of NSE Training Institute training they do with Fortinet under the terms of the agreement.

“With over 800,000 registrations for our free training offerings in 2020, it has become clear that Fortinet’s NSE training is fulfilling a huge need for all levels of security professionals,” Rob Rashotte, vice president, Global Training & Technical Field Enablement at Fortinet said.

“As such, we are committed to continue offering the entire catalogue of self-paced Network Security Expert training at no cost until we see the skills gap trend reverse. Together with our ecosystem of academic and commercial training providers as well as government and NGO partnerships, we will continue to provide the industry with a diverse, equitable and inclusive pipeline of security professionals,” he added.