Empowering the Next Generation of Cybersecurity Leaders

Santa Clara, Calif. & Stockholm — In an era marked by escalating cyber threats, Yubico is proud to be empowering the future of cybersecurity leaders by sponsoring youth-led hackathons around the world through its Secure It Forward program. This initiative not only provides young innovators with hands-on experience in tackling real-world cyber threats but also helps drive innovation, promote ethical hacking, and strengthen global efforts to secure the internet for businesses, individuals, and communities alike.

“As we see cyber threats continue to rise globally, it’s more important than ever to equip the next generation of leaders with the tools and support they need to secure the future,” said Ronnie Manning, chief brand advocate at Yubico. “Since day one, our mission at Yubico has been to make the internet safer for everyone – not just through innovation and advancing open standards, but by investing in real-world experiences for young minds to grow, learn and lead in cybersecurity.”

Over the last 10 months, Yubico has proudly supported over 20 youth-led hackathons around the world, including events organized by the Computer Security Group at UT Dallas. These events provide students with an opportunity to gain hands-on cybersecurity experience outside of the classroom, preparing them to start a successful career in the field.

Formalized in 2021, Yubico’s Secure it Forward program was established to provide security keys to help those most at-risk, donating them to nonprofit organizations, election campaigns, journalists, hackathons, and humanitarian workers around the world. Since its inception, Yubico has donated over 65,000 YubiKeys to hundreds of organizations in over 20 countries, including The Civil Rights Defenders, The Anti-Defamation League, Freedom of the Press, and Defending Digital Campaigns.

Yubico’s commitment to supporting nonprofit organizations such as the Computer Security Group at UT Dallas reflects the company’s ongoing dedication to strengthening the cybersecurity ecosystem by nurturing young talent and encouraging a passion for problem-solving and innovation. The company’s support spans multiple youth hackathon events throughout the year, offering opportunities for high school and college students to gain hands-on experience in building secure systems and tackling real-world cybersecurity challenges.

For more information about Yubico’s Secure it Forward program, please visit here. Yubico is a leader in setting global standards for secure access to computers, mobile devices, servers, browsers, and internet accounts. The company has been a creator and core contributor to the FIDO2, WebAuthn, and FIDO Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) open authentication standards, and is a pioneer in delivering hardware-based passwordless authentication using the highest assurance passkeys to customers in 160+ countries.

Yubico’s solutions enable passwordless logins using the most secure form of passkey technology. YubiKeys work out-of-the-box across hundreds of consumer and enterprise applications and services, delivering strong security with a fast and easy experience. As part of its mission to make the internet more secure for everyone, Yubico donates YubiKeys to organizations helping at-risk individuals through the philanthropic initiative, Secure it Forward.

For more information on Yubico, please visit www.yubico.com.