A CENTENNIAL COLLEGE SUCCESS STORY
Cybersecurity courses address the weakest link: Everyone
By MARK TOLJAGIC
In these turbulent times, cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility in an organization. Approximately 85 per cent of online security breaches occur among well-meaning employees who do not work in an information technology (IT) department and are unfamiliar with cyber crimes.
Hackers who exploit security vulnerabilities for monetary gain know this, and target rank-and-file employees to obtain access to an organization’s critical computer networks. It can start innocently enough with an official-looking email that asks the recipient for some brief information to complete a fictitious courier delivery.
Centennial College and Canadian cybersecurity company xahive.com have teamed up to create micro courses intended for non-technical staff to teach them how to defend themselves and their organization from cyber attacks. Cybersecurity governance courses tailored for non-IT employees are somewhat unique in Canada.
“There are lots of cybersecurity courses out there, but few are geared for non-IT employees,” says Sem Ponnambalam, president and co-founder of Ottawa-based xahive. “Staff working in hospitals, finance, legal, entertainment and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can all benefit from basic cybersecurity governance training. It’s a great way to protect your organization from cyber crime.”
Cyber attacks are very real and very destructive. In one example, a notorious ransomware virus known as WannaCry struck hundreds of thousands of computers around the world, including systems belonging to the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, forcing public healthcare facilities to close emergency rooms and turn patients away in 2017.
Organizations sometimes opt to pay a ransom to retrieve the stolen data before it is resold to other criminals looking to exploit the data. Ideally, it’s far better to never get into such a situation in the first place – which is why comprehensive cybersecurity training is so important today.
Centennial’s two-hour online courses, which learners can take at their convenience, use easy-to-understand terms so that anyone from the shipping department or the board of directors can follow the lessons on their personal device. Centennial presently offers two courses – Cybersecurity Governance 101 and Cybersecurity in the Healthcare Sector – with three more coming early in 2020.
The introductory governance course identifies five common cyber crimes and outlines the basics of cryptocurrency and blockchain applications, among other issues. The healthcare course describes the features of a data breach scenario and examines the consequences of cyber crimes and their potential impact on an organization such as a hospital.
Upon completion of each micro course participants receive a “digital badge,” which may be attached to their LinkedIn profile. The courses can be white-labeled for both academia and organizations, including professional bodies in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.
“With regulations in North America and Europe becoming much more stringent, especially as they relate to cybersecurity education and governance, these micro courses help organizations of all sizes to meet those cybersecurity and privacy requirements,” says Kevin Deveau, Chair, Distance and Online Learning at Centennial College.
The easy-to-scale online training makes it simple to deliver across an entire organization. Employers who normally do not have access to cybersecurity insurance may in fact qualify, or see a reduction in their cybersecurity insurance fees as a result of having employees participating in these courses.
Learning to prevent cyber crime in the workplace is knowledge that’s both timely and important to prospective employers. Students and graduates in any discipline can benefit from the courses by adding their new skills to their résumé, making them more competitive in the job market.
Learn more about cybersecurity micro courses by visiting the college’s website. Centennial College also offers a one-year, full-time graduate certificate program in cybersecurity intended for IT professionals.
More on courses and programs at www.centennialcollege.ca