The Global South doesn't have a talent problem. It has an opportunity.

Announcing the launch of the Global South Cybersecurity Academies Network (CAN) — and our founding whitepaper.

Today we're launching the Global South Cybersecurity Academies Network (Global South CAN), a coalition of four cybersecurity academies working across Southern Africa and Latin America to turn one of the world's most urgent skills shortages into one of its greatest opportunities.

Alongside our new home at globalsouthcan.org, we're publishing our founding whitepaper, Securing the Global South – One Career at a Time, which sets out why this network exists and where we're going next.

The imbalance we're built to correct

Digital transformation has reached nearly every corner of the world. Across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, a phone can now open doors to banking, healthcare, education and government services that were once out of reach.

But security hasn't kept pace with connection. Many nations in the Global South are building digital infrastructure faster than they can protect it, and the cost of that gap falls hardest on the economies least able to absorb it. The World Bank has found that developing economies could raise GDP per capita by as much as 1.5% over a decade by reducing major cyber incidents.

And according to the World Economic Forum's Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026, confidence in national cyber preparedness is lowest in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, the very regions where digital growth is fastest.

At the centre of this sits a shortage of skilled defenders. In Latin America and the Caribbean, only around a third of organisations report having the cyber skills they need; in sub-Saharan Africa the picture is much the same. And the few professionals who do get trained are often drawn abroad, where salaries can run many times higher — draining local capacity even further.

Why this is an opportunity, not just a risk

Here's what the numbers also tell us: the same gap that threatens economies is a genuine pathway out of poverty for the people who step in to fill it.

Cybersecurity graduates in the Global South often enter the workforce earning three to five times their local median household income. A single global role can lift an extended family and much of that international salary flows straight back into the local community. Closing the skills gap isn't only about protecting systems. It's about transforming lives.

That's the opportunity Global South CAN exists to unlock.

One network, four academies, three continents

We're stronger together than apart. Global South CAN brings together four academies that already carry the track record, and the trust, in the communities they serve:

• MiDO Academy (South Africa), building digital equity and sustainable cyber careers for underserved youth.

• Absa Cybersecurity Academy (South Africa), industry-embedded training since 2019, including pioneering programmes for visually impaired learners.

• IRSI Academy (LATAM), high-level technical specialisation with a synchronous virtual campus and a competitive Capture the Flag team.

• Batuta Cyber Academy (Mexico) , talent attraction and outreach focused on women and non-traditional profiles across Latin America.

Our approach is collaborative rather than duplicative, practical and job-focused, mobile-first by design, and deliberately inclusive: our cohorts are 50% female, because diverse teams catch complex threats that homogeneous ones miss.

Real stories of impact

Numbers make the case, but people prove it.

Rita, in Mexico, had never imagined cybersecurity as a career; today she designs safer digital spaces for the communities she works with. Ncebakazi grew up in a rural town in South Africa's Eastern Cape and is now a Junior Cybersecurity Specialist at Absa. Quinn joined as a high-schooler, went on to become a full-time security analyst, and now mentors the interns coming up behind him.

These aren't outliers. They're what happens when talent meets opportunity.

Get involved

The launch of Global South CAN is an invitation. There's a role here for everyone who wants to help close the gap:

• Funders and philanthropists: sponsor a student's journey, or invest in our member NGOs.

• Employers: join our talent pipeline for first-look access to job-ready, bilingual graduates.

• Tech partners: provide lab and licence access, or host CTF challenges across the network.

• Students: find your pathway into a global cybersecurity career.

Read the full whitepaper and explore how to partner with us at globalsouthcan.org.

The world needs cyber defenders.

The Global South can answer.