Cyber attacks are so common in this day in age that it only takes a quick Google search to find the latest in Canada.Sudbury’s Laurentian University was hit with a cyber attack in February that wreaked havoc on its winter semester, with many of its systems brought down for weeks.
“There's tons of attacks. Industry and governments are saying we need people. I pulled off the Government of Canada website that the number of cybersecurity jobs is growing year after year, and they're saying there's millions of vacant cybersecurity positions around the world.” Peterson said most in the Cambrian program, which is offered both in-person and virtually, are international students, but the graduates he’s kept in touch with have gone on to work in Canada.
It’s gotten to the point where cybersecurity has to be another business unit within organizations, just like HR and accounting. Other than things like setting up firewalls and protection systems, Peterson said he teaches his students what to do if an organization they’re working for is hit with a cyber attack.
The “capstone” project in the program’s final semester involves reaching out to businesses, most of them in the Greater Sudbury area, and working with them on their cybersecurity.