21 Nov. 2024 – Permanent Representation of the Lithuanian Delegation to the EU – During the final event of the REWIRE project called “Bridging the cybersecurity skills gap: the REWIRE project’s legacy and future pathways”, the participants discussed how to shorten the distance between the challenges of new cybersecurity skills and the design/implementation of EU policies and direct interventions in civil society.
Cyber threats are increasing, while there’s still a great lack of digital skills across the EU. Within this frame, the REWIRE project initiative – part of the Cybersecurity Skills Alliance – has developed essential tools to empower the current available workforce. From the CyberAbility platform, to monitor job gaps and offers, to 4 tailored training courses with recognized certification, REWIRE is laying a solid foundation for cybersecurity in the EU.
Cybersecurity is an area of great importance to the contemporary world, related to the security of the growing number of online users (to the extent of millions) and the new skills required to be competitive in the future labor market (especially GenZs).
Several big questions remain unanswered:
- How can cybersecurity skills be introduced in schools to raise awareness of what is happening on the internet?
- To what extent did GDPR regulations put into practice already secure our data?
- How to prevent growing attacks towards institutional systems? In terms of defense and security of our communities?
- What skills and knowledge are fundamental for the new generations?
At a glance. The future Cybersecurity sector needs to:
- Train more professionals while bringing inclusivity, diversity and gender equality, going beyond some stereotypes (e.g. “the hacker in the basement with a hoodie”).
- Promote inclusivity and widely offer a flexible certification system for cybersecurity training in schools, online, in the VET system.
- Move from the technical to the governmental level, influencing policy makers.
- Give a clear framework to citizens to help them protect their online identity as artificial intelligence is more and more facilitating cyber fraud.
- Upgrading nearly half of the adult population without basic digital skills.
During the final considerations and Q&A round, different opinions emerged:
- Targeting parents rather than children is the most effective solution to reduce the skills gap.
- Thus, the skills gap crosses generations; it will take a generation or perhaps more to close the existing lack of competences.
- At the national level, we need to work with the authorities to bring the education system up to date and close the skills gap.
- Basic digital skills are on the rise among younger students, but not in the professional sector. The surge in the use of AI is particularly interesting, but still mainly related to the gaming industry.
- European GDPR regulations have created greater awareness of data security. For example, many students do not want to share their information and photos without knowing where they will be used.
- A great amount of money has been placed in the industry to develop the certification system in the EU. But has anything really changed in recent years? Will the future trend be successful? Many people still do not know about this certification system, and still many things are not communicated enough.
- Apparently, there are more and more cyber-attacks, with an increasing number dropped at stations, city halls, hospitals, institutions. “Things in IT are very fragile”, they say: has there really been no improvement in this sector over the past 35 years? Measuring the impact of these policies remains very difficult, but much still needs to be achieved.
We invite you to discover REWIRE‘s training courses and virtual learning environment with tutorials and data useful for understanding the field.
📢 More info: Cybersecurity Skills Alliance
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📲 The full photo album is available HERE under CC BY-NC-SA License.
🔎 Info:creativecommons.org
📢 Report & Pics: Michele Pasquale/EfVET
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