Fortinet Launches Free High School Cybersecurity Curriculum to Build the Next Generation of Cyber Defenders

Fortinet Training Institute’s New Technical High School Cybersecurity Curriculum gives U.S. secondary schools a no-cost, standards-aligned entry point into a two-year cybersecurity pathway

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 31, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT), the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, today announced that the Fortinet Training Institute is launching free technical cybersecurity courses for students, the Technical High School Cybersecurity Curriculum, available to schools across the United States through the Security Awareness and Training Service.

“Closing the cybersecurity skills gap starts in the classroom, long before a student enters the workforce. This new curriculum allows high school students the opportunity to build foundational technical skills and knowledge and discover whether a cybersecurity career is right for them, while giving teachers a ready-to-use curriculum they don’t have to build on their own. This launch reflects our commitment to making cybersecurity education accessible to every school, and more importantly, every student, regardless of existing resources,” said Melonia da Gama, Director of Training and Learning Programs, Fortinet Training Institute.

Offered at no cost, the curriculum builds foundational knowledge and career interest while bridging toward industry certifications, giving Career and Technical Education (CTE) leaders, district technology leaders, and teachers a way to expand cybersecurity programming without straining budgets or instructional bandwidth.

The curriculum is organized in a two-course format. Each course will take a full school year, approximately 180 days, or 145 hours to complete. These two courses offer students the opportunity to develop core cybersecurity knowledge and prerequisites before learning advanced technical cybersecurity skills.

• Cybersecurity 1: Foundations is the first year-long course and the entry point into Fortinet Training Institute’s two-course cybersecurity pathway for high schools. It focuses on introducing key skills and knowledge, while encouraging students to consider continuing education and cybersecurity careers.
  
• Cybersecurity 2: Fundamentals is the second year-long course that builds on the learning from the first year. This course focuses on technical and practical cybersecurity skills, advanced cybersecurity concepts, and serves as a bridge to industry-standard cybersecurity certifications.
  
  

A Foundational On-Ramp to a Two-Course Cybersecurity Pathway

School districts face growing pressure to align programs with workforce demand, but many lack affordable, standards-aligned cybersecurity content or the capacity to build courses from the ground up. Fortinet’s Technical High School Cybersecurity Curriculum closes that gap with a ready-to-implement curriculum that expands a student’s opportunities.

The curriculum is built around three core pillars:

• Free, standards-aligned curriculum: Schools and districts gain access to high-quality, standards-aligned cybersecurity instruction at no cost, allowing programs to launch immediately without seeking additional funding or navigating approval delays.
• Ready-to-use lesson plans and instructor materials: Modular lessons, activities, and teaching materials reduce preparation time for educators, enabling teachers to deliver high-quality cybersecurity instruction with confidence, even without a deep cybersecurity background. Teachers may choose to use pieces of each lesson to supplement other course content, or teach the courses from start to finish.
• A no-cost implementation model: By removing financial barriers to entry, the program is designed to accelerate adoption across schools and districts of every size, helping students build foundational knowledge across networking, cryptography, endpoint security, application security, risk management, and cyber defense.
  
  

Together, these elements help schools better prepare students for college coursework, industry certifications, and cybersecurity careers, while giving districts a way to demonstrate innovation and career-focused, future-ready learning to their communities.

Building Real-World Pathways: Chicago Public Schools Explores an Early Pilot

Districts building cybersecurity pathways are looking to the Technical High School Cybersecurity Curriculum to strengthen existing coursework. Chicago Public Schools (CPS), which has expanded access to the college board’s AP cybersecurity course, is among the early districts exploring Fortinet’s curriculum as a foundational resource.

As CPS’s high school computer science team grew its cybersecurity pathway, it identified a need for a curriculum that builds foundational knowledge while preparing students for more advanced coursework. Fortinet’s Technical High School Cybersecurity Curriculum progresses through networking, cryptography, endpoint security, application security, risk management, and cyber defense, closely complementing the AP cybersecurity framework and giving students a logical path to build prerequisite knowledge before or alongside the AP course. Modular lessons and flexible pacing let teachers adapt implementation to their own classrooms and schedules.

“Chicago Public Schools is committed to preparing students for high-demand careers in cybersecurity through rigorous, industry-aligned learning experiences. As we expand access to AP cybersecurity across our district, we are excited to explore Fortinet’s Technical High School Cybersecurity Curriculum as a potential resource to strengthen our pathway. Participating in an early pilot provides an opportunity for our educators to evaluate the curriculum, provide meaningful feedback, and help shape high-quality instructional resources that prepare students for both college-level coursework and future cybersecurity careers,” said Daniel Patterson, High School Computer Science Manager for Chicago Public Schools.

About Fortinet

Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) is a driving force in the evolution of cybersecurity and the convergence of networking and security. Our mission is to secure people, devices, and data everywhere, and today we deliver cybersecurity everywhere our customers need it with the largest integrated portfolio of over 50 enterprise-grade products. Over 1 million customers trust Fortinet's solutions, which are among the most deployed, most patented, and most validated in the industry. The Fortinet Training Institute, one of the largest and broadest training programs in the industry, is dedicated to making cybersecurity training and new career opportunities available to everyone. Collaboration with esteemed organizations from both the public and private sectors, including Computer Emergency Response Teams (“CERTs”), government entities, and academia, is a fundamental aspect of Fortinet’s commitment to enhance cyber resilience globally. FortiGuard Labs, Fortinet’s elite threat intelligence and research organization, develops and utilizes leading-edge machine learning and AI technologies to provide customers with timely and consistently top-rated protection and actionable threat intelligence. Learn more at https://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet Blog, and FortiGuard Labs.

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