Short courses including cyber resilience, security, military, policing, counter terrorism and financial crime are going to be offered by a new school focusing on cybersecurity skills.
The Global Institute of Cyber, Intelligence & Security is opening in London, pitching top-up courses to professionals looking to expand their knowledge in cybersecurity.
This comes after the government warned of a “global shortage of no less than two million cybersecurity professionals” by the year 2017.
I asked Mark James what he thought of the school, its planned syllabus and computer education in general.
“Security and education go hand in hand…”
“The more people that get involved in security, the better for everyone,” Mark explains.
“We are all responsible, not just the people who deal with IT, but anyone who uses a computer should be aware of the pitfalls of using that equipment.
“In an age where computers are the primary tool for learning it’s important that at the earliest age possible security and education go hand in hand.”
The vast majority of cybercrime related articles I’ve written have come down to a matter of user education: whether it’s a targeted phishing attempt for password information or the classic Nigerian prince scam, it all comes back to user education.
“Education is the most powerful tool we can use in the fight against cybercrime. Having an up-to-date system, latest updated apps and the latest antivirus is great but if the user is not educated in how they protect themselves they will soon fall foul of some kind of cybercrime.”
I also asked Mark what he thought of the government’s comments that there will be a “global shortage” of IT security professionals.
“The uptake in computers is an industry growing so fast it’s almost impossible to keep up with demand. Add to that the lack of awareness towards cybercrime and you will end up with a lot of people not actually aware they need educating or that it actually exists in the first place.”
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What do you think of the school? Is it something you might be interested in attending?