TAKUDZWA HILLARY CHIWANZA
HARARE – As demand for cybersecurity skills in the tech sector is soaring globally, an ambitious plan has been laid, and already running in its first phases, to equip and empower young Zimbabweans with cutting-edge knowledge in ethical hacking, threat simulation, cyber defence, and penetration testing. The Cyberus National Cybersecurity Training Program, developed and handled by Cyberus from Russia and officially supported by the Ministry of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services (ICTPCS), aims to train 10,000 Zimbabweans with these critical digital skills and create employment opportunities for young people as offensive security specialists.
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| Minister Tatenda Mavetera (middle) officially unveiled the national cybersecurity training program. |
The program was launched last week Wednesday at Hyatt Regency Hotel in the capital, officially backed by the Ministry of ICTPSC, and it is run by a Russian organization called Cyberus, an international cybersecurity development foundation. It is handling the training program. The free training program comes as part of Cyberus's huge investment in Zimbabwe; as it plans to set up a $100 million CyberDom hub project in the country. RedZone Digital Zimbabwe is the local partner. The program features other global partners such as Positive Technologies, KOMIB (Centre for Coordination of Public-Private Partnerships in International Information Security, Russia), CyberED (powering the learning management system and all technical aspects thereof) and Innostage. The launch was graced by Tatenda Mavetera, the ICTPSC Minister; Sergey Andreev, Managing Partner at Cyberus; Dmitry Grigoriev, Director General of KOMIB; and Sergey Kuzin, the acting Chargé d'Affaires of the Russian Federation Embassy; who all delivered keynote addresses.
The program will be delivered via a "world-class" learning management system developed by CyberED and with the support from local partner RedZone Digital Zimbabwe (the latter who are seemingly managing logistics and probably helping with recruitment). When the program launched, more than 800 young Zimbabweans had registered for the training, signalling strong enthusiasm to take on these digital security skills. The training program is designed for both beginners who are interested in cybersecurity (though it may seem daunting) as well as experienced working IT professionals. One is generally okay if they can read technical documentation in English but some familiarity with networking and using the Linux or Windows terminal (the training program recommends Linux) will make the work much more manageable and achievable. With enough willingness to learn, anyone can take the course and excel , as the program is designed to cater for everyone -- both beginners and experienced professionals.
The course is fashioned to run in four phases that estimably can be finished in 13 months. The stages are as following: Stage 1 (two months) which will consist of the foundations; Stage 2 (four months), which will be Intermediate level cybersecurity: Stage 3 (one month), where advanced topics will be learned; and lastly; Stage 4 (six months), which will be made up of specialised training toward becoming a “Cybersecurity Leader”. At the end of each course, participants will be awarded with internationally recognized certificates, one from CyberED, which focuses on practical offensive cybersecurity training and a formal ethical hacker code of conduct. The promise is that the top 100 learners will intern in Russia for a year. Professionals from Cyberus will act as mentors throughout the program. And all of this can be accessed via zimcyber.com.
This development thus aims to position Zimbabwe as the cybersecurity hub of the SADC region. Minister Mavetera, speaking at the launch of the program, said that this has come to fruition as part of government's cybersecurity strategy, stating that there is need to deploy more "sovereign" cybersecurity in the country in terms of the infrastructure and digital skills. She also revealed that this has come as a result of the strategic partnership between Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe's president, and Vladmir Putin, the president of the Russian Federation through a 2023 bilateral agreement on information security which provides the framework for cooperation in cybersecurity.
"The Cyberus Foundation, established by global cybersecurity leaders Yuri Maksimov and SK Capital, is collaborating with Zimbabwe to develop a sustainable and sovereign cybersecurity industry. In October 2024, a high-level delegation from Cyberus and KOMIB visited Zimbabwe during our national cybersecurity awareness month. The subsequent consultations culminated in the proposal to build a comprehensive national cybersecurity framework for Zimbabwe," Mavetera said.
The launch last week was part of the first phase of implementing the training program, which is building the national cybersecurity capacity so that the country's youth are equipped with the requisite skills in cybersecurity fundamentals, ethical hacking, digital forensics, threat detection, and AI-driven security solutions. She added that Cyberus has committed to offer 160 additional scholarships "where we'll see 10 students from each SADC member state, making this a truly regional initiative".
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| ITU data from 2024 paints a dire picture about Zimbabwe's cybersecutity; making the Cyberus training program such a welcome development. [Image: Farai Mudzingwa/Daily Viz] |
"Top performers [from Zimbabwe] will be guaranteed job offers on national infrastructure projects and added to Zimbabwe's national cybersecurity talent pool," the Minister said. "The broader vision includes developing localised cybersecurity intellectual property and reducing dependency on foreign technology." She mentioned that if Zimbabwe manages to just tap into 0.1% of the global cybersecurity market – currently valued at $200 billion annually – the country could earn more than $200 million per year from cybersecurity services. "This is a great opportunity for us," she remarked.
Everything about this training program points to grand ambition. And it is a positive step taken by the Ministry of ICTPSC. Doubts as to the effectiveness of this program and whether the promises made will be delivered will obviously linger, given similar high-sounding projects that have been announced in previous years but never seeing the light of day. But there could be something different about this one, especially with the official blessing of the government—and if truly successful, Zimbabwe, with the assistance of Russian expertise, will stake its claim in the cybersecurity space; and this will also bridge the digital divide that exists between developed countries and those from this part of the world, as espoused by Sergey Kuzin in his address at the launch. For Cyberus, the bet is a massive one: train Zimbabwe's top talent for free and reap the benefits thereof. And it remains to be seen whether CyberDom, the big investment by Cyberus, will also come life. For now, we will positively commend these first steps.
Go ahead and check out zimcyber.com for more details and registration.
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