The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has partnered with Huawei and the Kenya Cybersecurity Forensics Association to launch a cybersecurity hackathon and Bootcamp.
The two series of events will be held in Nairobi and various towns across the country including Kisumu, Mombasa, Nyeri and Eldoret.
Over 6,000 students have signed up for online training and the top 100 from each of the five regions will attend the regional finals that will be held in conjunction with university partners in Nairobi, Nyeri, Eldoret, Kisumu and Mombasa.
As many businesses and institutions become digitized, the scope to which online platforms and technologies are being used continues to increase and consequently so do cyber threats. To help businesses and learning institutions have the skills and knowledge to ensure network and information security, it is important to grow the quality and quantity of current and future workers skilled in cybersecurity.
The boot camp is an intense training activity over a short period that covers the Huawei Certification e-learning Course on Cyber Security, virtual lab exercises and mentorship from experts within the field.
The CA, through the @KeCIRT, has launched the 2023 Bootcamp & Hackathon Series that will be a build-up to Cybersecurity Awareness Month (OCSAM) in October. This will be the third such series that will be done in collaboration with @HuaweiKenya & @kcsfa pic.twitter.com/UhrgT7leCp
— Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) (@CA_Kenya) June 26, 2023
These jointly structured sessions and courses are geared at preparing participants for a successful career in cybersecurity. The program builds on last year’s program that led to many of the students getting jobs in different sectors.
The Cybersecurity sector has grown extensively over the years; however, there aren’t enough skilled personnel to match these numbers. This is at the forefront of most businesses in the world today.
The safety of technology users, target audience and markets of various businesses and institutions, not forgetting the institutions themselves, is very important. Hence there is a need to work towards ensuring that persons with talent and interest in this field are provided with platforms that seek to upskill them.