MITT offering cyber-security boot camps

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This article was published 01/12/2020 (1950 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cybersecurity was already a major concern for Canadian business (Statistics Canada says 20 per cent of companies have reported attacks over the last few years). After the COVID-19 pandemic forced many people to work from home, their vulnerability has increased.

Last year, the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology (MITT) launched a Cyber Security Centre of Excellence. It had already been offering a two-year diploma on cyber defence, cloud, and related fields and is about to start filling out the offering.

It has partnered with EC-Council, a well-regarded international information security certification body, to offer three, three-day boot camp primers to help industry professionals and interested individuals get a leg up on the hackers.

Kathy Knight, executive director of MITT’s centre of excellence, said with cyber attacks up 330 per cent globally since the beginning of the year, the demand for skilled technicians to handle it has also increased.

“Globally, the demand is going through the roof,” she said. “If you go down the pathway (of courses now offered at MITT), you can work in Manitoba and pretty much work for anybody anywhere.”

The three initial courses MITT will offer from EC-Council are certified secure computer user, certified incident handler and security operations centre (SOC) analyst. Knight said they are hoping to get people to sign up before Christmas, and are expecting a bigger bump in interest in the new year.

Knight said teaming up with EC-Council allows MITT to get into the action a lot quicker than if it were to build its own programs.

“It allows us to really maintain a first mover advantage in this area,” she said. “We can get out of the gate fast with relevant training.”

Michael Legary, a member of the advisory council for the centre of excellence, said the EC-Council partnership is the right fit for MITT.

Legary, who started one of the first cyber security firms in Western Canada in 1999 (which he sold in 2015), said, “Their courseware and strategy is very consistent with getting young students and people new to the industry ready to work. That is really what it is designed for which is consistent with MITT’s mandate.”

MITT will build wrap-around courses so that student can keep adding credentials.

Knight said, “Our vision is to have a full tip-to-tail offering. We will deliver training for everything from the beginning of careers all the way through to senior professional.”

MITT is built around being nimble and responsive and since there is no one pathway into a cybersecurity career, Knight believes the EC-Council material is a good way to start.

Heather MacLean, executive director and country manager for EC-Council Canada, said it does these kinds of partnerships with academic institutions around the world.

She said in 2018 the Canadian Information and Communications Technology sector council said the industry would need 100,000 cybersecurity jobs filled.

“I would suspect that number has changed significantly with even more demand,” she said.

“During COVID, if you think about an organization that maybe had one office and 40 employees, since the lockdown in March all of sudden there are 41 offices they have to manage and look after security for.” 

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca