A Cyber Security Tech Debate to kick-start MITA’s collaboration with the University of Malta

has recently signed a collaborative and sponsorship agreement with the University of Malta to facilitate project collaboration and to ultimately benefit students reading for Degrees in ICT and related subjects. As a direct result of this agreement, several events and activities will take place. Among the initial activities, a series of Tech Talks about cutting edge technologies will be organised. The first of which was a Cyber Security Tech Debate that took place at the Faculty of ICT at the University of Malta on Wednesday, 15th November during the Degree Plus Programme.

The constantly changing faces of technology means that new and innovative methods of communications are connecting people; allowing them to share, store and exchange all sorts of data. This also means; therefore, that industry is constantly having to find new and effective ways of protecting this personal data from online security threats. No one is immune to online cyber-attacks. As assailants’ scheme to adopt inventive techniques and thus seek to exploit new vulnerabilities, industry is compelled to adopt effective means of minimising the devastating impact of a wide reaching cyber-attack which could potentially cripple economies.

The students participating in the Cyber Security Tech Debate organised by MITA, in collaboration with the Faculty of ICT, were given the opportunity to interact with foreign experts from the US, and MITA experts alike, to discuss and learn how already cutting-edge technologies have had to quickly adapt their designs to avoid cyber penetration. Students also had the possibility of witnessing simulations of actual cyber-attacks and creative means by which cyber assailants could use the art of social engineering to glean personal information from their unsuspecting victims.

Ultimately, technology is only as effective as the people using it, and awareness raising is key in preventing one from falling victim to cyber-crime.