Welcome to the Cyber Skills Academy!
The Cyber Skills Academy is an EU initiative aiming at addressing the growing cybersecurity skills and talent shortage in Europe.
Why a Cyber Skills Academy?
In an era of increasingly fast digitalisation, the shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals is not anymore only an issue of human resources. For a company, a public administration, or an operator of critical infrastructure, having the necessary skilled workforce is about being able to ensure the protection and resilience of its systems against rising cyberattacks. Ultimately, it is about the security of the EU.
“Cybersecurity is a top priority for the European Union, and bridging the skills gap is crucial to ensuring our digital economy remains secure and competitive."
Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy
In 2024, there was an estimated shortage of 299,000 cybersecurity professionals in the European Union, representing a 9%-increase from 2023 – a gap that is likely to increase as most organisations will require more cybersecurity staff to comply with recent EU cybersecurity legislation such as the NIS2 Directive, the Cyber Resilience Act, or the Digital Operational Resilience Act.
Despite the growing demand, 81% of companies surveyed in the 2024 Eurobarometer on cyber skills viewed difficulties in hiring cybersecurity staff as a key risk for potential cyberattacks. In addition, 76% of employees in cybersecurity-related roles do not have any formal qualifications or certified trainings. In the education, health, and social work sectors, 66% of cybersecurity roles are filled by employees transitioning from non-cybersecurity positions – highlighting the urgent need for reskilling and upskilling.
This is why the European Commission presented in April 2023 a Communication on a Cybersecurity Skills Academy.
The Cyber Skills Academy in a nutshell
The Cyber Skills Academy aims at bridging the cybersecurity skills and talent gap in Europe, by bringing together and improving the coordination of existing training, upskilling and reskilling initiatives for cybersecurity professionals.
Four main areas of action
The Cyber Skills Academy builds on the four following areas of action:
Four areas of action
Key facts
(Last updated on 21/03/2025)
Join the Academy
Ready to be part of the solution? Join the Cyber Skills Academy today!
- Train, upskill or reskill yourself by registering to one of the trainings offered by the pledgers on the Academy.
- Become a pledger and commit to delivering cybersecurity training, reskilling or upskilling opportunities.
- Join the Industry-Academia Network to strengthen the EU’s cyber talent pipeline.
