Inside the Cybersecurity Training Centre
Cisco has partnered with Victoria University through its Polytechnic to open Cybersecurity Training Centre, located at university’s St Albans campus in West Melbourne.
The centre offers students at Victoria University a number of courses covering cyber security awareness co-designed by cyber security professionals and the opportunity to connect with professionals in the cyber security industry across two computer labs and a videoconferencing classroom.
It also offers a cyber security operations centre, which contains red “attack” and blue “defend” rooms and allows for teams of students to take on simulated hacking and defending scenarios in order to refine job-ready cyber security skills.
Details into the breakdown of the funding agreement have not been disclosed.
Ken Boal, vice president of Cisco Australia and New Zealand, said he believes the centre will help in supporting Australia’s digital transformation.
“We are excited by the prospects of the Cybersecurity Training Centre, to support the skills of the emerging workforce, help create jobs, and enhance Australia’s global economic competitiveness,” Boal said.
“Partnering with academia to accelerate growth in the cyber security industry will create more opportunities for Australia to grow and prosper in the digital era."
Grant Dreher, deputy-vice chancellor (vocational education and pathways) at Victoria University said the Centre will offer students new career opportunities.
“We are enormously proud to partner with Cisco to help address a workforce shortage in an industry with a vast future demand for trained professionals,” Dreher said. “The rapid evolution of cyber-crimes around the world shows that cyber security is not just an Australian problem, it’s a global problem for companies to tackle, using a high quality workforce with the right skills and training.”
This joint venture is part of Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration program, which was announced back in February 2019 and promised $61 million over the next three years to drive digital transformation in Australia through education, healthcare, infrastructure and other government sectors.
