SANS Institute Announces Partnership with Microsoft

Bringing Trusted Security Awareness Training to Security Engineer Professionals

BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SANS Institute, the global leader in cybersecurity training and certifications, today announced that it has partnered with Microsoft to deliver a new series of computer-based training (CBT) videos to be included in the "Defender for O365" offering for security professionals utilizing the Microsoft 365 E5 Security license. The series is targeted at IT systems and/or network administrators who contribute to the overall security of an organization. The video content has been developed to provide increased awareness and reinforcement of critical issues to a wide range of IT Administrative roles and serves as an essential element in any practitioner's security toolkit.

"We are always looking to partner strategically with organizations that offer exceptional experiences to our large enterprise customers, and this course from SANS Security Awareness delivers just that," said Brandon Koeller, Principal Product Manager Lead of Microsoft 365 Security & Compliance. "Maintaining and securing modern IT configurations must always be front of mind for IT Administrators at every level. We found SANS to be the perfect choice to deliver the world-class security content to reinforce cybersecurity best practices for these technical roles."

This partnership aligns with the SANS Institute's mission to empower cyber security professionals with the practical skills and knowledge they need to make our world a safer place. This 12-module series provides task-specific training catered to the needs and experience of the learner. The program is self-paced, offering short-form, easily digestible content to build awareness specific to security engineers. This format opens the door for IT professionals to advance their security knowledge and helps prepare them for more advanced learning in future SANS coursework.

"SANS has been delivering technical training and certifications to IT professionals for over 30 years, so we recognize the unique needs of these technical users," said Carl Marrelli, Director of Business Development at the SANS Institute. "We salute Microsoft for recognizing the requirement to direct security awareness training towards this technical group of users since our experience tells us that it is precisely these users who are more frequently targeted because of their privileged access."

For additional security awareness training information and to learn how organizations can partner with SANS, please visit: https://www.sans.org/security-awareness-training/.

The SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. Today, SANS is the most trusted and, by far, the largest provider of cybersecurity training and certification to professionals in government and commercial institutions worldwide. Renowned SANS instructors teach more than 60 courses at in-person and virtual cybersecurity events and on demand. GIAC, an affiliate of the SANS Institute, validates practitioner skills through more than 35 hands-on technical certifications in cybersecurity. The SANS Technology Institute, a regionally accredited independent subsidiary, offers master's and bachelor's degrees, graduate certificates, and an undergraduate certificate in cybersecurity. SANS Security Awareness, a division of SANS, provides organizations with a complete and comprehensive security awareness solution, enabling them to manage their "human" cybersecurity risk easily and effectively. SANS also delivers a wide variety of free resources to the InfoSec community including consensus projects, research reports, webcasts, podcasts, and newsletters; it also operates the Internet's early warning system–the Internet Storm Center. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners, representing varied global organizations from corporations to universities, working together to support and educate the global information security community. www.sans.org

SOURCE SANS Institute