RMIT course to address cybersecurity talent gap

A new cybersecurity course developed in partnership with industry is set to arm people with the skills needed to protect their digital assets.

According to a report from AustCyber, ‘Australia’s Cyber Security Sector Competitiveness Plan’, Australia’s cybersecurity sector is facing a severe skills shortage costing the nation more than $400 million in lost revenue and wages, with almost 17,600 additional cybersecurity professionals likely to be needed by 2026.

As technology continues to transform businesses, the threat of cyber attacks becomes more imminent and the need to arm people with the skills required to protect digital assets from malicious activity becomes greater.

Cyber Security Risk and Strategy, part of RMIT Online’s Future Skills portfolio, is aimed at upskilling participants to understand the fundamentals of cybersecurity and how to formulate a preventative strategy of good cyber governance with a business.

The new course addresses the need for management to understand cybersecurity and offers a professional pathway to help address the skills shortage in the field.

RMIT Online CEO Helen Souness said the course has been developed in consultation with industry, including key collaborators Palo Alto Networks and NAB.

Palo Alto Networks is providing mentors for the course, with students able to earn an RMIT and Palo Alto Networks-endorsed credential in cybersecurity on completion.

“We are pleased to create this course with industry, to strengthen our nation’s cybersecurity preparedness by training Australians to fill a diverse range of technical and non-technical roles,” said Souness.

“The rate at which technologies are advancing and turning industries and departments upside down is not slowing down, and neither should our commitment to lifelong learning.”

Harvey Deak, Head of Security Strategy and Architecture at NAB, said the course would play an important role in helping to teach new and emerging skills and supporting a sustained skills pipeline for generations to come.

“As the Australian economy becomes more and more digitised, it is critical for Australia’s future economic prosperity that we build a highly skilled and educated cybersecurity workforce to help raise Australia’s cyber defence profile.”

The course will cover a variety of topics within the cybersecurity ecosystem. Apart from understanding the fundamentals of cybersecurity risk and its commercial impact, course participants will learn how to apply a cybersecurity risk mitigation strategy to their organisation.

Students will also learn how topics like asset security, identity and access management, and cloud security impact an enterprise’s cybersecurity.

Palo Alto’s Vice President and Chief Security Officer, Asia-Pacific and Japan, Sean Duca, said all organisations share a responsibility for identifying and managing their security risks.

“Having the right tools and platforms in place to protect an organisation from security breaches is crucial,” said Duca.

“However, the most important thing organisations can do to protect themselves is to ensure every staff member is educated about cybersecurity risks, the threat landscape and their own role in protecting the organisation.”

The Cyber Security Risk and Strategy course commences on 3 June 2019 and will run for six weeks at a cost of $1600. For more information, visit http://futureskills.rmit.edu.au.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Jürgen Fälchle