Expanding Europe’s cybersecurity talent pool: Microsoft's pledge to the EU Cybersecurity Skills Academy

Microsoft  is committed to closing the cybersecurity skills and talent gap in the European Union.
We pledge to offer trainings to 100,000  to underserved communities, with a focus on women,  individuals interested in starting a career in Cybersecurity, as well as IT professionals looking to expand their cybersecurity skillset. across European Union by end of 2024. 

Our pledge

In Microsoft, we are encouraged by the launch of the Cybersecurity Skills Academy, aiming to increase the number of European professionals trained in cybersecurity and EU's recent call for enabling digital education and providing digital skills. We believe that cybersecurity is a fundamental set of skills for all people, not only IT professionals, and everyone should have the opportunity to acquire these skills.
 

Our Initiatives

Digital Inclusion Grant Funded Programs: We are offering cybersecurity training through our digital inclusion grand funded programs directed at our nonprofit partners across Europe. In particular, our Cybersecurity Skilling Initiative targeting underserved communities with a focus on women to address both the skills and gender gap. This program also aims to equip learners with industry- recognized certifications to facilitate access to further learning and jobs in the industry. 

Microsoft Learn: Through our Microsoft Learn Platform, we are offering self- paced, hands-on training on cybersecurity, available to any individual interested in starting a career in cybersecurity, as well as IT professionals looking to expand their cybersecurity skillset through additional resources such as technical documentation, best practices and practice exams. 

Skills for Jobs: Through our Skills For Jobs Learning Pathways, we are offering individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences the relevant foundational skills to access the most in-demand tech and tech-enabled jobs. In particular, the Systems Administrator pathway offers aspiring cybersecurity professionals the required skills to pursue a career in the industry (cloud administration, security, networking, server and operating systems basics, etc.) as well as a career essentials certificate upon completion to start their professional journey

Update on our Pledge 

After equipping 93,000 learners in the EU with cybersecurity skills education in less than a year, we remain committed to reaching more Europeans with digital training over the coming year. A breakdown of our progress to date is as follows:

We will also continue to expand our offering of relevant learning content. In October, we launched the Career Essentials Certificate in Cybersecurity, a new LinkedIn Learning Pathway currently available in English, Spanish, and French, which covers commonly used cybersecurity terms, notions about the current threat landscape and other core cybersecurity concepts. Additional language options as well as a new course on the Microsoft Security Copilot will be offered as of next year.  

Microsoft is dedicated to reviewing and updating the status of this pledge every six months.

Background

Microsoft is committed to contribute to Cybersecurity Skills Academy and to offer expertise and resources to help diversify the EU cyber workforce and train 100,000 European learners over a two year period (by the end of 2024) he past few year s have seen a staggering number of cyberattacks targeting citizens, governments and businesses. According to Microsoft’s latest Digital Defense Report, the volume of password attacks alone, the main source of identity compromise, has risen to an estimated 921 attacks every second – a 74% increase in just one year.