The Hackers do Bem program, an initiative of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations (MCTI), coordinated by Softex and executed by the National Education and Research Network (RNP) and SENAI-SP, held its first Cybersecurity Training Workshop, today, August 28th, in Brasília, at the Royal Tulip Hotel.  

The purpose of the event was to identify gaps and opportunities related to cybersecurity training for young people in high school, technical education, as well as for those who completed high school and interrupted their academic training. The focus was on the development of new pedagogical strategies, connecting actors from the cybersecurity ecosystem to develop innovative ideas that can become future actions.  

The meeting brought together representatives of public bodies, companies, associations and other actors in the cybersecurity sector. Among the participating institutions were MCTI, CERT.br, Cisco, Sociedade Brasileira de Computação, Brasil TEC, Centro Paula Souza and Microsoft. 

The opening of the workshop was attended by Hamilton Jose Mendes da Silva, Director of Incentives for Digital Technologies at MCTI, who highlighted the relevance of the event. Furthermore, the deputy directors of RNP, Emilio Nakamura, from the Security Incident Response Center (CAIS), Leandro Guimarães, from the Escola Superior de Redes (ESR) and Lisandro Granville, from the Research, Development and Innovation Directorate, alongside Raphael Nascimento, from SENAI-SP, shared the fundamental objectives of the Hackers do Bem program. 

"Our field of activity is challenging as we face a shortage of qualified professionals. Hackers do Bem seeks precisely to contribute to reducing this gap. We want to change the perception that cybersecurity is something complex and unattainable, when in fact it covers a very broad spectrum", shared Emilio Nakamura, deputy director of Cybersecurity at RNP. 

The highlight of the workshop was a Design Thinking session, a collaborative method that allowed the development of new training ideas. The event organizer and RNP Research, Development and Innovation advisor, Michelle Wangham, highlighted the importance of connecting institutions and professionals to think about the best pedagogical strategies to attract students and encourage them to continue specializing.  

“We invited people who will contribute with new initiatives and strategies for the high school and vocational education public. We left with pitches for platform and game solutions, for example, ideas that we co-created as a starting point given the opportunities that we mapped out at this meeting. These solutions are seeds that need to be watered, but they are interesting initiatives and insights. We left with our heads buzzing. And the ideas, it is worth highlighting, do not need to be used in Hackers do Bem, the important thing is to develop new professionals in the area of cybersecurity”, he explained. 

The discussion allowed participants to reflect on cybersecurity teaching in its entirety. Leandro Guimarães, deputy director of Escola Superior de Redes, also shared his perceptions about the challenges and differences between cybersecurity training, comparing ESR's training with Hackers do Bem.  

“The Hackers do Bem program aims to impact 40 thousand people. Last year, ESR trained around four thousand people. In addition to the scale, the language is different. The program's audience is younger, and this is an audience we didn't know. We had to address basic concepts, such as, for example, what a virus is, what an attack is, ethics and soft skills, among other topics. Our challenge was to adapt all this volume of information for young people aged 14 to 18. That's why we looked for SENAI. We combined ESR’s knowledge in Cybersecurity and the expertise of SENAI, which has been working with this younger audience for a long time”, he said.  

The event represents a significant step in the joint effort to train young people interested in cybersecurity and, at the same time, demystify the area, making it more accessible to all interested parties. The workshops are part of a calendar of Hackers do Bem actions, which will feature two more events of this nature, over the three years of the initiative.  

About Hackers do Bem 

Launched in May, the Hackers do Bem program aims, among other initiatives, to qualify more than 30 thousand professionals in information security and privacy, areas that have a problem of shortage of qualified personnel in Brazil. The initiative is coordinated by Softex and will be carried out by RNP in partnership with SENAI-SP.     

Completely free of charge, the program will initially offer five courses at leveling, basic, fundamental, specialized and technological residency levels. The program's target audience is technical, secondary and higher education students. In addition to them, technology professionals seeking specialization and those who want to migrate areas may also participate.