In the overwhelmingly digital culture of the 21st century, organizations and individuals must consider online safety and functionality more than ever before, and now Camosun College has introduced a Cybersecurity and Network Technology diploma program to meet this need.
Camosun Electronics and Computer Engineering chair Alan Duncan says that protecting secure data is of utmost importance and recovering compromised data is a costly endeavour, therefore there’s a growing need for cybersecurity and network technology specialists.
“Cybersecurity is an ongoing area of great importance,” says Duncan. “The protection of data for companies and businesses is very important, and of course the clients’ and customers’ details are very important as well. When there are breaches on networks or systems or computers, the cost of recovering the data, or rebuilding systems, or ransomware systems, costs millions and millions of dollars, so it makes sense that most companies now are evolving to actually have someone designated who’s trained in cybersecurity on campus or staff to be able to advise and give further assistance to optimize security.”
Duncan says that the course is designed as a comprehensive balance to give students the familiarity they need to succeed in their careers.
“There’s an equal distribution between theory and hands-on experience,” he says. “There’s a lot of time spent in the lab on hands-on… It really is important that students actually physically implement these technologies, play with the tools, use the software, use the systems they’re going to actually see in the industry, and that’s going to give them the skills and the confidence to be able to take on these very important tasks.”
Duncan says that students will become familiar on a hardware and software level, as well as gain experience with coding and network technology.
“It’s basically configuring the systems, writing scripts, coding where needed, and assembling systems based on the individual building blocks, computer servers, and network routers,” he says. “Students get two courses basically using Python, they do a bunch of scripting to configure systems, so there are definitely software elements, and when you get into cloud computing, which is a whole new area, of how to advise when to switch from localized servers to cloud-based servers, and what the issues are around those.”
Depending on how deeply they want to dive, students can take the full two-year program and receive a Technology diploma, or leave after the first year with a Technician’s certificate. Duncan says students can certainly set their sights on careers with large tech companies, but the skills learned in the program can also be applied on a consumer level, because there’s demand for skilled technicians in both areas.
“Any user of a computer or phone system these days has to be aware of phishing emails, those sort of things, you know, that’s a way of a bad person to gain access to a system,” says Duncan. “There’s security that needs to be thought of right from the get-go. Our students actually will be able to analyze and find weaknesses in systems, because, essentially, they do what’s called penetrative testing, where you basically try and attack your own system, so you can then determine where the weaknesses are and what needs to be bolstered and what needs to be reconfigured.”
Duncan advises students that while the program will not be a walk in the park, it will pay dividends to those who are dedicated.
“It’s not going to be an easy certificate, you’ll actually have to work at it, but the value you’re going to get from it in the end is huge, because you’re learning all this new current technology, and there’s huge demand for people that actually have specific training in cybersecurity,” he says. “I think we’ve got a unique solution that will do our potential students very well, and we’re very excited to be able to offer it.”