Cybercrime degree to boost jobs
IN a big nod to a future employment growth area, the Institute of Technology Carlow has launched the country’s first Bachelor of Science Honours Degree programme in Cybercrime and IT Security.
The move, according to the Institute, is a response to the global talent gap for cyber professionals and one that will assist Ireland’s development as a worldclass cyber security practices, solutions and investment hub.
And with cyber security being one of the fastest-growing sectors in the global technology industry, graduates of the programme will be highly sought after and have their choice of job offers, according to international experts Niccolo Alicandri, co-founder and chief business officer of global security monitoring specialists CipherTechs Inc. and CipherTechs EMEA Ltd. general manager Laurence Conroy, who launched the degree course.
‘WHEN we studied the planned programme for this new degree course at IT Carlow it was apparent that graduates would achieve specialised in-depth expertise in the essential areas of proactive cyber threat detection and mitigation,’ said Laurence. ‘CipherTechs recognises that the Institute of Technology Carlow’s new Bachelor of Science Honours Degree programme in Cybercrime and IT Security will be an ideal template for the security analysts and engineers of the future that we would like to hire.’
The first Cybercrime and IT Security undergraduates will begin their fouryear course this September.
They will acquire specialist knowledge from a comprehensive syllabus that includes: advanced programming; software engineering; networking; cybercrime legislation; computer forensics; reverse engineering and malware analysis and penetrating testing (ethical hacking). Year three of the four-year programme will also include a six-month placement in industry.
Career options include roles in ethical hacking, secure application development, secure network management and digital forensics.
The World Economic Forum in Davos has identified cyber related threats as one of the highest of all global risks in terms of impact of events and likelihood of events occurring. According to the Centre for Strategic Studies, the annual global cost of digital crime and intellectual property theft is US$445 billion.
In response, the global IT research and advisory firm Gartner estimates the global IT security spend will soar to $101 billion in 2018, and hit $170 billion by 2020, leading to a rapid growth in the cyber security sector worldwide.
Ireland’s digital economy contributes 5% of national GDP and provides employment for over 100,000 people. Protecting personal data, sustaining investment and ensuring the continued reliable functioning of information and communications technologies, and of the Internet, are priorities for Ireland.
Application for the programme will be via the CAO under the code CW258.