New scholarship seeks to narrow the digital divide between rural and urban areas

BETHESDA, Md., March 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SANS Institute (SANS), the global leader in cybersecurity training and certifications, is donating SANS training and GIAC certification testing to a scholarship with the Rural Technology Fund (RTF), an organization that works to narrow the digital divide between rural and urban areas.

The RTF cybersecurity scholarship is provided through partnership with SANS Institute, is awarded to up to three students from a rural community anywhere in the United States. In addition to a $1,000 cash award for education expenses, the recipients of this scholarship will have the opportunity to take up to two cybersecurity SANS training courses and the two corresponding GIAC certification exams.

"SANS is excited to support the Rural Technology Fund and their initiative in helping young students in rural communities preparing them for careers in IT and cybersecurity specifically," said Sonny Sandelius, Assistant Director, SANS Workforce Programs. "We look forward to seeing these scholarship recipients excel in the SANS courses, which will provide them with great technical knowledge and solid hands-on cybersecurity skills preparing them for future careers in the field."

To be considered for this scholarship, the student must have grown up in a rural area or attended a rural high school. The candidate must be planning to attend college to pursue a degree in a computer technology related field, with a focus on security. This scholarship is awarded based upon answers to a series of essay questions that are designed to gauge the student's passion for cybersecurity and insight into the field, as well as the student's sense of community and pride in their rural community.

The application deadline for the scholarship is April 15, 2022

For more information about the RTF cybersecurity scholarship, please see this link here.

About SANS Institute
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 world-wide. 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

and provides the highest and most rigorous assurance of cybersecurity knowledge and skill globally. 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

About the Rural Technology Fund
The Rural Technology Fund (RTF) recognizes the very real digital divide between rural and non-rural areas, and provides classroom technology resources, targeted scholarships, and technology education advocacy. The RTF scholarship programs provide college grants to students from rural communities pursuing college education in computer technology. To date, the RTF has given over $25,000 in scholarships and introduced over 150,000 rural students to technical education opportunities. In addition to financial awards, the RTF works with partners to provide scholarship recipients with other technology resources that may be relevant to their specific educational passions. www.ruraltechfund.org

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SOURCE SANS Institute