We at The State of Security recently began interviewing educators who are helping to launch cyber security programs in Canada's schools. Last time, we spoke with Benjamin Kelly, a teacher at Caledonia Regional High School in New Brunswick. We'll now speak with Pierre Clavet of Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick (CCNB). Maribeth Pusieski: What is your role with the program, and what attracted you to it? Pierre Clavet: I’m a Sectorial Advisor for CCNB. We are a community college in New Brunswick, Canada. I am responsible for three sectors: IT, Technologies and Natural Sciences. My role is to align the training programs we offer with the industry skills requirements. We always want our programs to be in sync with the industry, so that our qualified graduates can quickly integrate into the workforce. MP: What educational aspect of cyber security today concerns you most? PC: There’s huge potential in educating the public in terms of different types of attacks that they could be subjected to, especially social engineering type of attacks. For our different programs that we offer in our IT sector, there are opportunities for making security a top priority in terms of the technology and how the data is secured all this being part of the development process. MP: What was the motivation behind your organization developing and offering cyber security education? PC: Everything we do is based on current industry needs. We are confident that there’s a sufficient need in New Brunswick and in the IT sphere to start offering programs that specifically talk about cyber security. MP: Other than learning about the ‘computer science’ side of cyber security, are there other classes being offered and why? (e.g. risk management, data analysis, public policy, ethics, etc.) PC: Here’s the high-level outline of what will be covered in the program that will be offered:
- Security Fundamentals
- People and Application Security
- Data and Infrastructure Security
- Security Intelligence and Risk Management
- Attack Life Cycle
- Common Attacks
- Penetration Testing
- Security Programming by Java
MP: What other organizations do you look to for curriculum guidance? PC: We are actively working with IBM (Q1 labs) and the Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity | UNB - University of New Brunswick. MP: How does your program fit into an overall educational plan for someone interested in a cyber security career? PC: Our program is a great way for skilled IT professionals to get into the cyber security space. It’s a doorway that can really kick-start a career in the field. MP: How do you see New Brunswick’s Cyber Security educational efforts in general, and your program specifically, in relationship to Canada’s needs? PC: We see it as being a global demand for skilled workers and believe that we have the qualified resources available to support the development of skilled workers in the industry; that is why we are offering this continuing education program in a hybrid format, so that anyone from around the world are able to join-in directly to the classroom. MP: What would you like to share about your program that we have not asked? PC: Our program will be intense and will cover a lot of what is required from a cyber security professional. By using a hybrid delivery model, this will greatly increase access to this top-notch cyber security training program.
Conclusion
We're just getting started with our coverage on cyber security education programs. Stay tuned for more!
