CyberSafe Foundation and SANS Institute Launch AI Security Fellowship for Women in Cybersecurity Across Africa

Full fellowship for women with at least three years of cybersecurity experience; no prior AI background required

Bethesda, MD, Sept. 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sixty-three percent of organizations in sub-Saharan Africa report they are missing critical people and skills needed to meet their cybersecurity objectives, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026. Access to advanced training, and its cost, determine who can help close that gap.

The CyberSafe x SANS AI Security Fellowship awarded ten fellowships to women working in cybersecurity across Africa, covering a four-course SANS AI security curriculum and two GIAC certifications. Applicants had at least three years of hands-on cybersecurity experience, but no prior AI background was required. The training runs from October 21, 2026 through July 30, 2027.

The Fellowship comes out of an expanded partnership between the organizations. The pilot model was launched in 2025 through CyberGirls+, which sent ten CyberGirls Fellowship alumni from Nigeria, Kenya, and Zimbabwe through SANS training and one GIAC certification. The AI Security Fellowship broadens the program's reach and targets skills development entirely at AI security to meet industry demand.

CyberSafe Foundation, founded in 2019, runs the CyberGirls Fellowship, a free year-long training, mentorship, and placement program that has reached more than 1,800 women in 27 African countries. The AI Security Fellowship removes the financial barrier at the next step, covering the curriculum and certifications, with no cost for fellowship recipients.

The curriculum builds toward one thing: the ability to defend the generative AI systems organizations are now running in production and utilize AI to enhance cybersecurity operations. All four courses are self-paced through SANS OnDemand, and each must be completed before the next unlocks.

"We know these women. They have already built real careers in cybersecurity, and this fellowship gives them a specialization the market barely has yet. That is a different level of career entirely." said Confidence Staveley, Founder and Executive Director, CyberSafe Foundation.

The first two training courses build foundations. SEC411: AI Security Principles and Practices assumes no prior AI background and gives a security practitioner a working understanding of how large language models behave and where they break. SEC495 covers retrieval-augmented generation, the method organizations use to connect an AI model to their own internal records, and how to keep that connection from exposing data it should not.

The other two courses build specialized skills on top of that foundation. SEC545: GenAI and LLM Application Security works through defending a generative AI application end to end, from the data feeding it to the pipelines that put it into production and leads to the GIAC AI Platform Security (GAIPS) certification. SEC598: AI and Security Automation for Red, Blue, and Purple Teams covers using AI to automate both attack simulation and defense and leads to the GIAC AI Security Automation Engineer (GASAE) certification. Both are built on hands-on labs rather than lectures.

Mentors from CyberSafe Foundation support participants through the courses and into the certification attempts, the same structure used in the CyberGirls+ pilot.

“CyberSafe has spent years building this talent pipeline, and they know exactly who is ready. What they could not solve on their own was access to advanced, hands-on training. That is the part we, at SANS, are proud to support. We are focusing this second partnership on AI Security because these skills are aligned to industry workforce needs and emerging trends in cybersecurity operations,” said Rushmi Hasha, Director, Mission Programs and Partnerships, SANS Institute.

SANS Institute is supporting the scholarships for this cohort. Organizations interested in funding future cohorts and scaling the effort can register interest at sans.org/partnerships/spotlight.

About SANS Institute: The SANS Institute is the global leader in cybersecurity training and certifications, trusted by governments, enterprises, and security professionals worldwide. For over three decades, SANS has set the industry standard for technical excellence, equipping practitioners with the real-world skills needed to defend today’s most complex digital environments. As cybersecurity evolves, SANS continues to lead the way, defining best practices and establishing the global benchmark for AI security and emerging technologies.

About CyberSafe Foundation: CyberSafe Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2019 and focused on safe and inclusive digital access across Africa. Its programs include the CyberGirls Fellowship, CyberGirls+, the HerAI Fellowship, the CyberSafe Foundation PCI DSS Academy, the API Security Training Program, and Resilio Africa, which supports cybersecurity resilience for hospitals, schools, libraries, emergency services, and municipal systems in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa.

Jenn Elston
SANS Institute
301-654-7267
jelston@sans.org