In April 2023, ISC2 became the first organisation to make a pledge under the European Commission's Cybersecurity Skills Academy. The commitment was 20,000 free places in the Certified in Cybersecurity (CC) programme. It was later extended by a further 30,000, bringing the total to 50,000 places for EU residents.

Upon the closure of the pledge, the target enrollment was exceeded by 26%.

What the Pledge Delivered

  • 62,905 EU residents registered for the CC programme, across all 27 Member States.
  • 8,362 have passed the certification exam, demonstrating their knowledge against a globally recognised standard for entry-level cybersecurity roles.
  • 7,074 have gone on to become ISC2 members, more than eight in ten of those who certified, giving them continuing access to professional development, peer networks and continuing education.
"Europe does not have a shortage of people willing to enter cybersecurity. It has a shortage of accessible routes into the profession that people can see, afford and complete. More than 62,000 registrations across all 27 Member States tell us the demand is there. Our job now is to turn that demand into a permanent pipeline,” said Phil Stupak, Senior Director of Advocacy, ISC2

 

Employers treat certification as a hiring signal. ISC2's research, based on 929 hiring managers, found that 89% would consider an early-career candidate holding only an entry-level cybersecurity certification, ahead of the 81% who would consider a candidate with relevant education alone. CC was among the three foundational certifications most frequently required for entry- and junior-level roles. The same research found that most entry-level hires can be trained to work independently within a year, and that these roles are filled faster than senior ones.

Where This Fits in the Digital Decade

The 2026 State of the Digital Decade report, published in June, sets out the scale of the problem the pledge was designed to address. The EU had 10.5 million ICT specialists in 2025, just 52% of the 2030 target of 20 million. On cybersecurity specifically, the Commission puts the EU skills gap in the hundreds of thousands and names a persistent cybersecurity skills deficit as one of five structural factors limiting Europe's resilience. It also puts the return on digital skills investment among the highest of any digital category, at 1.8 times inside the EU and 2.4 times globally.

The Commission's recommendations reflect several elements of the model used by the pledge. Member States are asked to expand the ICT workforce in collaboration with industry, in particular by contributing to the EU Digital Skills Academies, and to develop the cybersecurity workforce by making use of the European Cybersecurity Skills Framework. CC is mapped to ECSF entry-level roles and is vendor-neutral; these designations matter given the Commission's warning that vendor-specific certifications reduce the portability of skills between employers.

ISC2's Value of Cybersecurity Certifications survey, based on responses from1,533 professionals holding at least one vendor-neutral certification, highlights the complementary role of both credential types. Among respondents, 67% rated their vendor-neutral certifications as very impactful on their careers, with vendor-specific certifications close behind at 65% among those who hold them. T hose who obtained vendor-neutral certifications before obtaining vendor-specific certifications did so to qualify for a cybersecurity-related job and to stand out in the job market, more so than those who started with a vendor-specific certification.

Five Years of the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform

This milestone falls in the same year that the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform marks its fifth anniversary. The Platform has hosted the Cybersecurity Skills Academy since 2023 and has provided the public-facing platform through which these opportunities were promoted and accessed.

What Comes Next

The pledge is complete, but the commitment continues. ISC2 is already assessing where future efforts can make the greatest contribution to closing Europe's cybersecurity skills gap. That work builds on a global footprint, a recognised thought leadership role and the strongest voice of cybersecurity professionals anywhere in the world.