The Boom in Cyber Security Training - TryHackMe

Cyber security is an essential pillar in protecting businesses. Whatever the business size, cyber attacks can lead to financially damaging, reputation destroying consequences. With 18 cyber attacks occurring every minute, a mitigation plan needs to be in place to keep businesses in the best standing.

With this imminent need for action, the cyber security industry is seeing a phenomenal skills workforce gap. Millions of unfilled jobs are expected by 2025, where there simply isn’t a trained enough workforce to keep up with demand. 

Cyber Security Training 

Cyber security training has been known to be fairly rigid in the past, which is arguably a contributing factor to the skills workforce gap. Often individuals looking to train in the field were left to their own devices and couldn’t learn hacking and security in action - which is a vital transitional skill. 

With a wealth of lucrative job opportunities offering competitive Cyber Security Salary rates, the field is explored by students looking for attainable positions post-study, alongside people looking to switch career paths and tap into the booming market.   

On the other hand, businesses require cyber security training to upskill their security fleet on new trends, technologies, and tactics. The market is ever-evolving, so a steady stream of learning is best practice to be in strong standing against cyber threats. Companies are also citing the need for a cyber culture across the wider team. Human error contributes to 95% of all successful breaches, where employees are untrained and acting poor security, or falling victim to scams.

With the cyber security landscape in mind, TryHackMe was born. TryHackMe is a gamified remote platform offering cyber security training to anyone, anywhere. Created by Ashu Savani and Ben Spring, TryHackMe offers free and premium training and aims to be an accessible, engaging route to learning.

I met the other co-founder of TryHackMe, Ben, at a security internship in London. We noticed a significant lack of tools for teaching cyber security. Everything focused on a black-box approach. Users were left to their own devices having to figure out what happened alone. There weren’t enough tools for a range of skill levels - including beginners trying to learn the industry. This sparked a plan. We built TryHackMe as a passion project, originally just for the two of us. As time went on we realised how big a demand there was! Fast forward three years, we have a team of over 25 talented people based around the world and continue to develop the company,

- Ashu Savani, TryHackMe co-founder.

TryHackMe 

TryHackMe offers training pathways for individuals, businesses, and educational institutions. Each group features varying features - for instance, the business and education paths allow management to see every user's progress, tracking development. These groups can also adapt any learning path and lab on the platform to make training as relevant and accurate as possible to their industry, company, or goals.

The platform features over 500 training labs, focusing on all areas of cyber security with offensive and defensive learning paths. Labs are created weekly and consistently adapted by the QA team to ensure accuracy at every change in the field. The team creates reactive content to new threats in the industry, for example, creating a log4j threat mitigation lab in a matter of days. 

Attack-box learning allows users to learn cyber security in action, which is transferable to job positions and can bridge security jobs and other candidates. Training rooms incorporate gamified learning and storylines to engage users. With 800,000 people currently using the platform, TryHackMe is experiencing rapid growth. 

Case Studies

Brandon Prohaska started using TryHackMe throughout his time at University. He explored the industry after a friend was doxed and had public information leaked online. After discovering this interest in the field, he found a challenge in knowing where to start - looking for an accessible platform that was both engaging and easy to learn. 

TryHackMe enabled me to learn cyber security by making learning fun - which is how learning should be! I think learning should be like playing your favourite video game - addictive and driving you to play until everything possible has been completed. Through learning with TryHackMe, I obtained a job in the cyber security career field right out of college. After four months of using the platform, the amount of knowledge I had over my classmates was tremendous. I secured an internship as an Enterprise Security Analyst following graduation and endeavoured to showcase my skills enough that I would be offered a job throughout the position. After two months in placement, I was offered a full-time position as an Enterprise Security Analyst, with my primary role being Threat Detection and part of the CSIRT (Computer Security Incident Response Team),

- Brandon Prohaska 

Kenny Young held an IT manager position, but found a passion in security throughout this role. Kenny started to engage with the wider cyber community on social media and online platforms, which is where he discovered TryHackMe. Kenny now works as a security analyst and is thriving in his new position. 

TryHackMe allowed me to put my skills into practice and get that practical experience. For example, I hadn’t used Linux at all previously, and now I was able to do this in a meaningful way. The fact that you’re engaged in “challenges” helps with motivation and keeps you interested. From exploring pathways including “Offensive Pentesting” and “CompTIA Pentest”, I achieved certifications that helped me transition across jobs. I’m now actively working in an area that I absolutely love, on a daily basis. It truly is one of the most exciting times in my career ,

- Kenny Young.