OpenSSF, LF Training & Certification, and CNCF Announce Scholarships to Support Women in Jordan Entering the Cybersecurity Field in Collaboration with US White House National Security Council

This initiative is a testament to our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the technology and cybersecurity fields.

AMMAN, JORDAN – March 4, 2024 – Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) and Linux Foundation Training and Certification (LF T&C) and Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) are thrilled to announce an initiative in celebration of Women's History Month. In collaboration with the US White House National Security Council (NSC), we are proud to support the women of Jordan by launching a pilot program offering 250 free security courses and certifications, including specialized certifications in Kubernetes and Cloud Native Security.

This initiative is a testament to our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the technology and cybersecurity fields. By providing complementary security certifications, we aim to break down barriers and create opportunities for women in Jordan, fostering a more inclusive and diverse workforce. As cybersecurity continues to experience challenges in finding enough skilled workers, this program will help build capacity in the workforce.

The pilot program is sponsored by OpenSSF and LF T&C, organizations dedicated to advancing open source software security and providing high-quality training and certification programs.

"Today’s announcement creates exciting opportunities for Jordan women to learn critical skills to enter the cybersecurity workforce and contribute to Jordan’s national security,” said Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technologies. “We applaud OpenSSF and the Linux Foundation for investing in women by granting these scholarships, which will strengthen our collective cybersecurity." 

"It is an honor to provide these scholarships to the women of Jordan in recognition of International Women's Day and this year's theme, 'Inspire Inclusion,'" said Clyde Seepersad, SVP, General Manager, Training & Certification at Linux Foundation. "Supporting the careers of all women and increasing the supply of skilled cybersecurity professionals are both of vital, global interest."

Omkhar Arasaratnam, General Manager of OpenSSF, added, "OpenSSF is a proud supporter of cybersecurity capacity building in diverse communities. Our Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work group and Education Special Interest Group (SIG) have made great progress toward these goals. We’re proud to collaborate on this initiative. We believe that providing opportunities for women in cybersecurity is not just the right thing to do; it is essential for building workforce capacity and the diversity of thought required to address tomorrow’s cybersecurity challenges."

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About the OpenSSF
The Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) is a cross-industry initiative by the Linux Foundation that brings together the industry’s most important open source security initiatives and the individuals and companies that support them. The OpenSSF is committed to collaborating and working upstream and with existing communities to advance open source security. For more information, please visit us at openssf.org.

About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is the world’s leading home for collaboration on open source software, hardware, standards, and data. Linux Foundation projects are critical to the world’s infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, ONAP, PyTorch, RISC-V, SPDX, OpenSSF, OpenChain, and more. The Linux Foundation focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users, and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org.

About the National Security Council (NSC)
The National Security Council (NSC) is the President's principal forum for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his or her senior advisors and cabinet officials. Since its inception under President Truman, the Council's function has been to advise and assist the President and to coordinate matters of national security among government agencies. For more information, please visit whitehouse.gov/nsc/.

Media Contacts

Jennifer Bly
OpenSSF
jbly@linuxfoundation.org 

J Scott Punk
Linux Foundation Training & Certification
jspunk@linuxfoundation.org  

Samantha L. Reposa
National Security Council
Samantha.L.Reposa@nsc.eop.gov