Bridging the Gap News

London Met hosts a day-long seminar exploring how education can arm students for workplace needs.

Date: 13 November 2015

Cyber security is no longer the reserve of computer scientists or data miners.

The general public are increasingly aware of the importance of protecting their online identity and high profile companies are falling victim to cyber-attacks risking personal and financial information.

Even as the awareness of online vulnerability grows the skills gap between cybercrime prevention and commission is widening. Cybercrime is growing rapidly as sophisticated, targeted attacks flood in from heavily funded diverse organised sources.

Although there are some initiatives - governments, educational institutions, and industries are working in closer partnership - the gap between the cyber security business needs and education still needs bridging.

London Met’s Faculty of Life Sciences and Computing is hosting a day-long seminar on Wednesday 18 November 2015 presenting talks from educators and industry professionals exploring how we bridge this gap.

Professors from our School of Computing and Digital Media alongside experts from organisations including E-Security Group, Cyber Management Alliance, ISACA UK Security Advisory Group and EMEA (ISC)2 will discuss cyber-security education for employability and the challenges that academia faces, why information security matters and the partnership between industry and academia.

As yet unqualified

A world-wide online survey undertaken by ISACA and the RSA Conference earlier this year revealed that 82% of participating organisations were braced for cyber-attacks in 2015, yet they rely on IT staff who are unable to handle the complex threats. It also revealed that more than 35% of organizations are unable to fill open positions.

Almost every higher education institute has Cyber Security courses and there are many professional certification courses offered by reputed organisations.

The majority of Higher Education Institutes share the desire to provide the skills that industry requires, but face the serious challenge of reaching the industry experts and business environments.

In this seminar London Met is bringing together experts from industry and academia to proactively discuss ways and means of reducing the Cyber Security skills gap.

The event is organised by BCS Information Security with London Met, tickets must be booked by midday on 16 November 2015, discounts are available for students and BCS Members.