Lopota, Republic of Georgia (April 28, 2016) – With high-profile cyber attacks on major corporations and governments routinely making headlines, perpetrators of such attacks have soberly reminded the world that nearly any network, regardless of perceived security, is vulnerable to attack by capable, determined adversaries.

As part of a collaborative effort aimed to help organizations better educate their people on cybersecurity, from 20-22 April 19cybersecurity experts from Armenia, Canada, Georgia, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom, United States, and Ukraine gathered in Lopota, Republic of Georgia, to finalize a Cybersecurity Curriculum, culminating a nearly two year development effort.  The curriculum development was done under the framework of the Partnership for Peace Consortium (PFPC) Emerging Security Challenges Working Group (ESCWG), in cooperation with NATO and Partner Nations.

Launched in August 2014 by the ESCWG, the Cybersecurity Curriculum development effort was born out of a recognition that there is a low degree of cyber awareness at the policy-making level of governments and other institutions. According to Sean Costigan, senior advisor to the ESCWG and manager of the curriculum development, it is envisioned that the curriculum can become an important means to not only increase cybersecurity awareness across an entire organization, but to specifically educate policy makers, preparing them to exercise sound policy decisions on cyber-related matters.

With the curriculum development effort now complete, the PfPC and NATO are devising a distribution plan so that interested parties can obtain a copy of the curriculum for integration into their organization’s education programs.

Through the Defense Education Enhancement Program (DEEP), jointly managed by the PfPC and NATO, recipient nations can receive assistance in incorporating curricula into their organizations.  As such, upon an official request by an interested nation, the DEEP program can assist partner nations in building suitable education programs based on the newly developed cyber curriculum.