EC-Council and Extant Group Work Toward Reducing the Huge Talent Gap in the Kenyan Cybersecurity Industry, Which Threatens To Exceed 40,000 Professionals

Extant Group has entered into a collaboration with EC-Council with the aim of creating more cybersecurity ready professionals – a resolution to move closer to a common vision of bridging the large skill-gap in Africa by 2020. Through this partnership, both cybersecurity enthusiasts and professionals in Nairobi, Kenya, will now have access to EC-Council’s credentials and training, preparing them for the requirements of the industries.

Africa currently faces several Internet-related challenges in relation to security risk, intellectual property infringement, and protection of personal data. The lack of financial capacity to target or monitor electronic exchanges deemed sensitive for national security, and combined with the fact that 60% of identified vulnerabilities are left unprotected, means that there is a need for more professionals. This deficiency of cybersecurity in Kenya has been attributed to the dearth of skilled cybersecurity professionals, where the expected demand of 40,000 professionals overwhelms its current supply of 1600 cybersecurity experts.

“Our assertion is that effective cybersecurity training on security basics and behavioral standards is not something accomplished through a one-time seminar or awareness session. From learning the language of security to behavioral basics and changing standards, professionals of every trade can now have an opportunity through EC-Council’s (the global leader in cybersecurity certification programs) online learning to get acquainted with cybersecurity, and then stay up to date as the world grows more connected, complex, and capable of devastating hacks, scams, and breaches,” says George H Wahome, Director Consultant – Enterprise Security & Cyber Risk at Extant Group.

Through this partnership, EC-Council and Extant not only ensure that they contribute to the African ecosystem with the best security practitioners in the market, but also enhance security awareness and deliver value through a new-age mode of delivering quality training and certification.

“Training a taskforce that will be enabled with the right skill-set and abilities to tackle the current and arising cyber-threats seems to be among the urgent needs for the hour in Africa. Through Extant Group, our ethical hacking, penetration testing, cyber forensics, and network security credentials will now be delivered to cybersecurity enthusiasts in Nairobi,” says Akash Agarwal, Director of IMEA at EC-Council. “It is important that we create enabled, skilled professionals in the industry who can tackle complex cybersecurity problems such as social engineered hacks and fake news, both of which have been prevalent in the Africa cyber industry.”

This partnership with EC-Council allows Extant to provide industry-leading, globally recognized credentials such as ANSI Accredited Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (C|HFI), and Certified Network Defender (C|ND)––which are highly valued by employers in Kenya, as it is globally.

About EC-Council

EC-Council has been the world’s leading information security certification body since the launch of their flagship program, Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH), which created the ethical hacking industry in 2002. Since the launch of CEH, EC-Council has added industry-leading programs to their portfolio to cover all aspects of information security including EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (C|HFI), Certified Chief Information Security Officer (C|CISO), among others. EC-Council Foundation, the non-profit branch of EC-Council, created Global CyberLympics, the world’s first global hacking competition. EC-Council Foundation also hosts a suite of conferences across the U.S. and around the world including Hacker Halted, Global CISO Forum, TakeDownCon, and CISO Summit.

For more information about EC-Council, please see https://www.eccouncil.org

About EC-Council Programmes

EC-Council has certified over 200,000 security professionals. Individuals who have achieved EC-Council certifications include those from some of the finest organizations, militaries and governing bodies around the world.

Many of these certifications are recognized worldwide and have received endorsements from various government agencies including the U.S. Federal Government via the Montgomery GI Bill, National Security Agency (NSA),  Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) and the UK’s NCSC. Moreover, the United States Department of Defense has included the CEH program into its Directive 8570, making it one of the mandatory standards to be achieved by Computer Network Defenders Service Providers (CND-SP).

About Extant Group

Extant Group, established in 2009, is among the fastest-growing training sectors in IT Industry. Located in Nairobi, Kenya, Extant group has a team filled with industry experts. As seasoned consultants for over 10 years in EMEIA, their mission is to enhance security, resilience, and reliability of their clients’ information and communication infrastructure, thereby making a positive impact in the cyberspace. Extant Consult is a market-led cybersecurity business unit specializing in enterprise-security and cyber risk to provide comprehensive, professional advice, and training in the IT security and cybersecurity field. The Extant Innovate business unit comprises of two divisions i.e. Next Dimension (NDM) and E-Hub.

For more information, please visit https://extant.co.ke/

Source:

  1. https://digital4africa.com/2018/04/20/insights-africas-cyber-security-report/
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