Cyber safety coaching specialist Hack the Field and governance, threat and compliance (GRC) apply SureCloud are amongst these to have lent their help to a brand new programme designed to assist practice and reskill former youth soccer stars for careers in cyber safety.
The occasional high-profile incident apart, the world of cyber safety and the world {of professional} soccer could seem poles aside, however in line with a 2021 investigation by Sky Information, at anyone time there are between 10,000 and 12,000 youngsters in English soccer’s youth growth system, and solely 0.5% of them will ever make a residing from taking part in professionally, and of these, a tiny 0.012% will go on to play a single minute in a Premier League match.
So, with English soccer slicing 1000’s of younger folks free yearly, and an enormous expertise scarcity within the cyber safety sector, sports activities consultancy Phoenix, Sport & Media Group (PSM), an upskilling specialist, noticed a possibility to assist practice and develop safety expertise amongst former youth footballers, and has developed and launched a brand new programme referred to as Cyber Stars.
PSM enlisted numerous companies to help in growing Cyber Stars apart from SureCloud and Hack The Field – which offered its HTB Academy service as the educational platform for the programme. Amongst them had been BlueScreenIT, a Plymouth-based cyber careers developer, and certification specialist CompTIA.
The initiative was designed to transcend conventional cyber coaching and was fastidiously customised to assist the scholars take their first steps into the customarily bewildering world of cyber safety, with a sequence of programs masking offensive and defensive ways and risk intelligence.
Underneath the programme’s auspices, the inaugural cohort of footballers-turned-cyber execs graduated earlier in July in a ceremony hosted by Liverpool Soccer Membership.
“At Hack The Field, we’re dedicated to create a safer cyber world by making cyber safety coaching accessible to everybody,” mentioned Hack The Field founder and CEO Haris Pylarinos. “Everybody can be a part of and begin studying and practising cyber safety, from concept to motion.
“With that in thoughts, Hack The Field supported PSM Cyber Stars Programme, offering cyber safety coaching to a particular group of athletes keen to discover a brand new line of labor and, as such, providing a pathway for these people to a brand new profession alternative.”
SureCloud vice-president Ben Jepson added: “At SureCloud, serving to the subsequent technology of cyber safety professionals is one thing that we really feel very keen about. The scarcity of cyber expertise within the UK can’t go on and it’s on us as an trade to exhibit how thrilling and rewarding a profession within the digital area might be.”
PSM CEO Carly Barnes, a specialist sports activities lawyer who hails from a background in British motorsport, mentioned: “We’re extremely proud to have efficiently launched this course, and much more proud to see the very first college students graduate at such a well-renowned venue.
“These new graduates are about to start out on brand-new profession paths within the IT trade and we look ahead to seeing how they progress because the months and years transfer on.”
Among the many first graduates are Josh Sumner, a former Liverpool FC Academy participant, and Ciaren Jones, who as soon as captained Norwich Metropolis’s under-23 squad.
Sumner mentioned he had been “devastated” to have needed to go away Liverpool when he was 19 after a seven-year placement. “Soccer was all I knew,” he mentioned. “However I’m now 28 years previous and I can safely say that the Cyber Stars Programme has set me on a brand new and thrilling profession path in IT and cyber safety.
“It was at all times one thing that I used to be desirous about, however this has given me the chance to take the primary real-life step into the sector.”
Jones, who’s becoming a member of SureCloud as a marketing consultant, mentioned: “I didn’t count on to get pleasure from it as a lot as I’ve accomplished, as all I’ve ever identified is soccer. I positively went out of my consolation zone however have found a brand new ardour for cyber.
“The help from SureCloud alongside the best way has been superb. I’m now wanting ahead to working my manner up the ladder, studying extra about areas of hacking that excite me, and to earn additional {qualifications}. And I’ll maintain kicking a ball – part-time, after all.”
Wanting forward, Barnes mentioned she hoped to increase the Cyber Stars initiative to different sports activities, together with athletics, cricket and rugby, and can be hoping to supply centered programs for girls and former Paralympians.