The Cybersecurity Skills Alliance – New Vision for Europe – REWIRE project is the Alliance representing 25 organizations including companies, SMEs, universities, VET associations and cybersecurity research institutes, from 11 Countries. This project aimed to provide concrete recommendations and solutions that would lead to the reduction of skill gaps between industry requirements and sectoral training provision and contribute to support growth, innovation, and competitiveness in the field of Cybersecurity. REWIRE is co-funded by the ERASMUS+ programme of the European Union (Agreement Number – 621701-EPP-1-2020-1-LT-EPPKA2-SSA-B) for a duration of four years (01.11.2020 to 31.10.2024).
LRQA's role in the REWIRE project
Since 2020, LRQA has been an active participant in the REWIRE project, contributing its expertise in cybersecurity assurance and skills development to this collaborative effort. As a global leader in assurance and cybersecurity solutions, LRQA played a key role in developing training and certification frameworks, ensuring they align with industry needs and compliance standards.
Supporting cybersecurity education and skills development
A critical element of LRQA’s contribution involved shaping the Professional Open Online Courses (VOOCs) that target high-demand roles such as cyber incident responder, cyber threat intelligence specialist, penetration tester, and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). These courses not only address skills gaps but also uphold high certification standards, enhancing the credibility and employability of cybersecurity professionals.
Enhancing industry readiness with CyberABILITY
LRQA collaborated on the CyberABILITY platform, a digital observatory that consolidates insights into market needs, competency requirements, and available training resources. This platform exemplifies how industry data can be harnessed to guide educational initiatives and meet the evolving demands of cybersecurity stakeholders.
Driving industry-wide impact
The REWIRE project reflects LRQA’s broader commitment to addressing the challenges of Assurance 4.0. By fostering collaboration between diverse stakeholders, including VET providers and industry leaders, LRQA has helped bridge gaps between training offerings and real-world industry expectations, contributing to a stronger, more adaptive cybersecurity workforce.
Laying the foundation for Europe's cybersecurity future
In the past 4 years, REWIRE built a Blueprint for the Cybersecurity industry and a concrete European Cybersecurity Skills Strategy. This strategy keeps into consideration lessons learned from other initiatives (i.e. CONCORDIA, SPARTA, ECHO, CyberSec4Europe), outlining, from a holistic approach, political, economic, social, technological, legal and other factors which may be affecting sector skills and training offer. Encompassed with activities, milestones, outcomes and outputs, REWIRE did:
- Design and implementation of a Blueprint for the Cybersecurity industry ➢ Develop a European Cybersecurity Skills Strategy
- Develop a common methodology for the assessment of the current situation and to anticipate future needs, through identification of existing and emerging skills needs.
- Create a European Cybersecurity Skills Observatory integrated by specific actions, activities and tools that allow for anticipation and matching of skills supply and demands. ➢ Support the strategy and framework through the implementation of a digital on-line publicly accessible European Cybersecurity Skills Digital Observatory – CyberABILITY (for cybersecurity skills merging the market needs, the profiles, the competencies and the available training courses).
- Create a Cybersecurity Skills Framework containing profiles for the needed cybersecurity profiles and their analysis.
- Pilot a federated cyber range hosted by multiple project partners to support the goals of the project.
- Create at least four (4) educational curricula and relevant skills certification schemes for profiles contained in the Cybersecurity Skills Framework.
- Promote the attractiveness of the sector and gender balance through specific actions to engage all relevant stakeholders
- Develop actions for encouraging mobility through promoting the use of existing European tools (Erasmus+, EURES, EAfA etc.).
- Create networks to improve skills intelligence and information mechanisms and strengthen the exchange of knowledge and practice between the cybersecurity industry and the VET providers, adapting VET provision to the skills needs demanded by the sector.
While the project is approaching its end, the REWIRE Final Conference, on November 21st 2024 in Brussels, will showcase the project’s outcomes and provide a platform for discussing ongoing challenges in cybersecurity skills. Stakeholders, including European policymakers, industry associations, educational providers, and non-profits, will come together to explore these challenges, identify opportunities and propose solutions for cybersecurity education and workforce development. The conference also aims to raise awareness, facilitate dialogue, and foster collaboration among stakeholders to advance cybersecurity workforce development and enhance societal resilience against emerging threats.