Don’t ask young people what they want to be when they grow up. Ask them what problem they’d like to solve. I wanted to solve all sorts of problems as a child, later as a young person at university, and today as a university researcher and director of a company. I came to the field of cybersecurity in a somewhat unique way. I didn’t study computer science at university. My technical skills were self-taught.
Wanting to watch American television as a child prompted my first adventure into cybersecurity. In the pre-Internet, there were very tight restrictions on television content. TV content produced in one country was often not available to those who lived in another country.
As a Canadian, the only way for me to access some of my favourite programmes on TV was to program orbital positions so that a local satellite could access the American station’s airwaves which I could then watch on my home TV.
Only later did I come to realise that many of the problems and challenges I was interested in were related to cybersecurity.
Contents
- 1 If you say yes’ to any of these questions, you are interested in Cybersecurity:
- 2 If you need most of the following factors from your career, Cybersecurity is a good option for you:
- 3 Why I love working in Cybersecurity
- 4 Rising demand for skilled employees in Cybersecurity
- 5 All about the degree course in Cybersecurity at Western Sydney University
If you say yes’ to any of these questions, you are interested in Cybersecurity:
1. Do you want to prevent people from using hacks or stealing your digital assets on your favourite video game (For me this is Fortnite and Pacman)?
2. Do you want to make sure that your friends use their social media in a way that allows them to meet and interact with other like-minded people but also keeps them safe from creeps and stalkers?
3. Do you want to be a part of developing the next great encrypted communication systemAugmented Reality Whatsapp? Human Sensor Transporter Technology (Avatar, Star Trek)?
4. Do you want to help your employer or the family business to better reach potential customersand improve sales?
5. Perhaps your goal is to improve the health of people living in rural areas who have little to no access to medical professionals.
6. Perhaps your goal is to prevent crime and help those who have become victims of crime.
Many of you don’t yet know what you want to study, but you know that you’d like to.
If you need most of the following factors from your career, Cybersecurity is a good option for you:
- become a professional with an interesting career
- get paid well
- work in a rewarding field
- be in a field in global demand
- have opportunities to travel and live abroad
- get paid to do something challenging
- help to solve problems
Why I love working in Cybersecurity
I love cybersecurity because it involves all of the above and I get to work on great challenges and hard problems that require people from many different backgrounds and expertise to come together to solve.
And if you’re interested in those very topical areas such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, cognitive hacking/brain science manipulation, or science fiction in general cybersecurity interacts with all of these and then some.
As a Professor of Cybersecurity & Behaviour at Western Sydney University and Cyber Ambassador for the New South Wales Cybersecurity Network, my role is to inspire you the future of our nations and planet to apply your creativity and minds to study cybersecurity and help us to solve some these problems.
Rising demand for skilled employees in Cybersecurity
Nearly 20 years on with billions spent on technologies to better secure data and assets, cybersecurity threats remain a constant with numbers and severity of threats increasing. Why?
Cybersecurity is not strictly a computer science problem. It cuts through many fields human behaviour, risk management, regulations, business practices, and of course, as well as traditional fields such as computer science, information systems and data science.
Solutions to cybersecurity challenges will need to be both innovative and involve many types of expert knowledge in addition to computer science.
The number of people with qualifications to meet cybersecurity threats has not increased in line with the high demand.
All about the degree course in Cybersecurity at Western Sydney University
1. The Bachelor of Cybersecurity and Behaviour has been developed as the only cybersecurity degree in Australia and Asia that analyses both the technical and human side of this rapidly expanding industry.
2. The primary objective is to place the student at the forefront of this dynamic digital world, transcending boarders and uniting global businesses, governments and industry.
3. In building and developing the course, Western Sydney University has painstakingly developed up-to-the-minute cyber risk management frameworks that inform and empower graduates to dynamically respond to cyber threats in the moment.
4. Further to this, the course incorporates specialised analysis into the behavioural science behind online fraud and advance hacking, using this fascinating knowledge to protect data against cyber attacks and forearm against future vulnerabilities.
5. In line with the university’s policy of linking all studies to practical and industry-based training, the course offers the opportunity for placement within leading Australian and global organisations to provide the opportunity for real-world experience in the final year of the course.
6. This includes specialised learning opportunities or research projects, which are rewarded with industry certifications that facilitate established careers in cybersecurity and intelligence, including Data and Security Analysts, Ethical Hackers and Cyber Policy Makers.
As the leader in this emerging discipline, Western Sydney University is facilitating international discussions, particularly in the key areas of vulnerability discovery and misuse in popular applications and devices, as well as the emerging malicious use of artificial intelligence to mimic human behaviour in cybersecurity incidences.
Our 360-degree approach to the course ensures the highest level of understanding of this ever-changing and boundary-pushing market. We want to ensure our graduates become world-leaders in this field.
This is a good career choice for students from India as the country is the epi-centre for Data Call Centres, hosts what some would consider Silicon Valley 2 in Bangalore, and also has a shortage of trained cybersecurity and data science experts.
[“source=indiatoday”]
