A big thank you to our Partner Allianz and to SANS Institute for inviting the Charter of Trust to participate in the high-stakes discussions at this year’s Allianz Executive Forum. The topic “Cyber-Nation Germany needs Cyber-Education” was a formidable chance for the Charter of Trust to present its commitment to support educational initiatives in the field of cybersecurity.

Our chairwoman Natalia Oropeza shared some insights from the inspiring programme “African Girls Can Code”, amplifying the message that the future of cybersecurity is diverse, committed, and highly ambitious. Furthermore, Ralf Schneider, Allianz Senior Fellow Cybersecurity and Next Generation IT, highlighted that it is everyone’s task, from everyday citizens to high-end IT experts, to educate themselves and learn about new cyber threats.

A huge shoutout to Allianz and the SANS Institute for the fantastic organization and the invitation to be part of this remarkable event!

Yesterday we celebrated the next generation of cybersecurity talents at the "Empowering the Next Generation of Cybersecurity Talent" event, co-organized by SANS Institute, Allianz Technology and The Charter of Trust. This event was a pivotal gathering focused on addressing the critical shortage of skilled professionals in the cybersecurity field. It was a formidable opportunity to bring together industry leaders, educators and public authorities to celebrate the graduation of aspiring cybersecurity youngsters from the CyberTalent programme and discuss future opportunities in cybersecurity education and careers.

🚀 We had the pleasure of welcoming our new graduates from diverse backgrounds and hear about their journey and ambitions in becoming skilled cybersecurity professionals.

The graduation ceremony was followed by a high-level panel discussion moderated by María del Pino González-Junco with the experts from both industry and public sector Maria Manuela Catrina, Patrick Zeitz, Ian R., Dimitra Liveri and Dr Sumit Chanda who shared insights on bridging the cybersecurity skills gap and fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce. The main takeaways from this exchange:

Different ways of thinking - "Cybersecurity skills can be taught, but the strategic mindset and the hunger to learn more certainly not". This shows the value of such initiatives like the CyberTalent, different backgrounds, different forms of tackling problems and the desire to excel can get you everywhere in cybersecurity.

Soft skills - "What we need in Cybersecurity right now are not only hard technical skills, but soft skills like communications, public affairs, public relations, creativity". Back in the day, almost everyone in cybersecurity had a degree in computer science, but those times are long gone. Talents like we have them gathered here today are the future and build the backbone of our security systems tomorrow.

Human-centred - "2/3 of all data breaches involve some form of human element". This shows that cybersecurity must go a long way to make it more human-centred. A culture of failure must be embraced and openness to constructive knowledge sharing after attacks. This is what the Charter of Trust stands for and wholeheartedly welcomes this new generation of open-minded cyber-talents.

We thank SANS Institute and Allianz for organizing this wonderful event and congratulate everyone graduating from the CyberTalents academy. We cannot wait to see, where your journey will lead you, but we are sure that your contributions to cybersecurity will be most needed.

On 21st November, the Charter of Trust hosted a virtual workshop with three key sessions on the topic of 'Women in Cybersecurity' and how to build DEI&C awareness, capability and competence across communities, counting with high-level speakers from the public and private sectors.

In its White Paper 2021, the Charter of Trust Principle 6 Education Taskforce shares practical advice on how to create a cybersafe culture based on the experience of CoT leaders. To this end, the paper outlines seven key recommendations for industry and government, which at the same time are a joint commitment of CoT Partners and Associated Partners.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), an Associated Partner of the Charter of Trust, published a collection of use cases on open source software (OSS) security management that reflects the relevance of Charter of Trust Principles.

On 28 July, the Charter of Trust Principle 6 ‘Education’ hosted the first-ever Charter of Trust webinar “The Human Element in Cybersecurity”. Discussions focused on why people are so central to cybersecurity, how capacity building can be beneficial, and which modern approaches to learning can be applied to effectively leverage the human element in cybersecurity.