Founded in 1986, Interface3 is a Brussels initiative that seeks to create a diverse mix in the IT-sector. “We want to create role models who can each be very inspiring for other girls and women who want to take the plunge. When you see that the percentage of women in IT courses at colleges and universities has only decreased over the past few decades, you understand how important and necessary we are,” says Laure Lemaire, director of Interface3.
This commitment has resulted in a training offer of a total of 13 courses, 8 of which are specific IT-courses. “All these trainings last a year and are very intensive. After the lesson period, with an average of 35 hours of classes per week, there is an 8-week internship at a company. By using this method, we hope to equip all participants with the skill set demanded by employers. Anyone who wants to follow one of these courses must be registered as a job seeker. For the participants, these programmes remain completely free,” she continues.
Cybersecurity Training
Because Interface3 clearly felt the growing need for skilled cyber profiles in recent years, the organisation started offering its own cybersecurity training two years ago. This initiative was primarily made possible thanks to the financial support of the Belgium Digital Skillfund. “At the end of the training, we want women to have the basic knowledge to recognise cyber threats, test systems for vulnerabilities, and understand the methodology of attacks,” explains training coordinator Ibtissam Derfoufi.
To achieve this ambitious goal, strict admission requirements are imposed. “After an initial selection, the preliminarily selected candidates are given a one-week e-learning course. This helps us determine who can work sufficiently independently. Then follows a second selection test, after which we make our final selection of 15 candidates. This rigorous screening is crucial for the quality of the training,” says Derfoufi.
The selected candidates are then immersed in a four-month programme. “This programme is very practice oriented. Women learn the tricks of the trade with us and can grow into fully-fledged penetration testers. At the end of this phase, the candidates can also participate in Capture the Flag, a worldwide concept that tests cyber skills through a game format. By allowing the women in our training to participate in this, we give them the chance to build their own name and network within the sector," Derfoufi explains.
The power of reorientation
Two years after the launch of this ambitious initiative, the results are clearly positive. Both the participants and the industry, which comes into contact with these women mainly through the concluding company internship, appreciate the high level,” says Lemaire. “In fact, I consider this our additional social mission: we want to show the corporate world the great added value of reorientation programmes. In practice, these are valuable workers, as they often have a much higher intrinsic motivation and have proven during the retraining that they can handle changes."
This comes on top of the primary mission of strengthening gender diversity, including in the world of cybersecurity. “The societal value of this is beyond doubt. As a cybersecurity professional, it is important to be able to put yourself in the shoes of the hackers you are fighting against. Because this group is growing and becoming increasingly diverse, it is crucial that the defenders of tomorrow reflect this diversity as well,” says Derfoufi.
In the coming years, the initiators hope to further raise the maturity level of this training. “The fact that the first generation of students, who completed the training a while ago, indicate that it has been a great added value for their career, shows that we are on the right track. But we are just at the beginning. For example, we have already made great strides in the level determination of our initial selection rounds compared to the very beginning, and we want to continue this trend,” they conclude unanimously.