Society Spotlight: UC Cybersecurity Society
By Peter Searles
IT students have many options for specialisation in their future careers. They may choose to work in data science, cloud computing, AI, machine learning or robotics. For those looking to establish a career in cybersecurity, a new club has emerged that aims to equip them with the knowledge, skills and networking opportunities that can establish them in the field.
The UC Cybersecurity Society was initiated by President Simone Chitsinde and Vice President Urvi Ray. Simone and Urvi, both of whom are in the later stages of their studies in IT, have attended extracurricular events and workshops throughout their studies. They’ve recognised the boost such activities can provide to a student’s knowledge and connections, resulting in better career opportunities after graduation. They set up the club to connect more students with opportunities for professional development in the field of cybersecurity. The club also brings together students from other IT specialisations and those with an interest in business, marketing, governance and law, facilitating cross-disciplinary knowledge sharing for the benefit of all members.
For some students, landing a job in an unrelated field can be the first step to gaining the soft skills that will be relevant to their later work in their chosen field of study. Internships can be a valuable way of gaining work experience, and external training in Cyber Defense Framework (CDF) and events such as hackathons can further boost a student’s CV. The Cybersecurity Society aims to make all of these opportunities more accessible to students.
Vice President Urvi Ray gave us a rundown of the basics of cybersecurity. It’s the field of IT that is all about security and protection of information. Our information is shared and distributed via networks and devices with ownership from a broad range of countries, which means our data may be stored in any number of places. Uncertainty inevitably arises around the security of information, given its potential value to hackers, scammers and thieves. Urvi explained that cybersecurity is essentially a reactionary industry, where developments in security come in response to breaches. For this reason, companies will employ hackers to infiltrate their own systems, revealing the weak points in their defences so these can be fixed before a breach from an external threat occurs.
Malicious software can be introduced to a company’s network in a number of ways, including via drones that fly in the vicinity of their data servers or other infrastructure. But security is an issue for individuals too. We’ve all known people who have had their accounts hacked, who have been scammed, or who have narrowly avoided such incidents. With technological advancements, new ways for these things to happen are arising all the time. Developments such as advanced encryption and additional layers of authentication have come about to make personal information more secure. Urvi explained that these developments are putting less of the burden of security on passwords, because users tend not to follow best practices of changing their passwords regularly and using long and complex passwords.
The Cybersecurity Society recently held a social trivia event where attendees answered questions relating to technology, cybersecurity and broader pop-culture topics. Their planned events include casual discussions over coffee with UC academics and talks from representatives of external organisations such as ISACA – a global association of professionals from the fields of information security, governance, assurance, risk, privacy and quality.
To take advantage of the professional development opportunities the Cybersecurity Society provides, become a member via their rubric page. And follow them on Instagram and LinkedIn to stay updated on upcoming events.