Edith Cowan Uni’s security operations centre set to combat cybercrime

Edith Cowan University has opened a $3 M security operations centre, headquartered at the university’s Joondalup campus to equip students with the skills required to address cyber security threats.

This security operations centre which was funded by the Australian government is one of the largest to be built within a university and will play a vital role in ensuring Australia remains a secure place to do business, as costs of cyber crime pose a growing threat to local and global businesses.

According to a statement by the university, the security operations centre aims to give students a first-hand experience in cyber operations and technology and responding to cyber security threats.

The centre comprises a 24-seat training lab, designed to familiarise students with the SOC environment and introduce students to open and closed source SOC and security information and event management (SIEM) platforms.

According to the university’s School of Science Executive Dean, Andrew Woodward, the centre will provide students with training in monitoring, detecting as well as responding to cyber security incidents.

Woodward adds, “There are only a handful of universities in the world that offer this capability.”

It is expected that by 2022, the global workforce shortage for cyber security professionals will grow to exceed 1.8 million personnel.

Vice chancellor of the university, Steve Chapman said, “ECU is committed to addressing the massive skills shortage facing the government and industry in this area.”

Chapman added that the investment in this centre will ensure that the university is able to give access to students to develop the necessary skills for them to be industry ready.

The university is also home to the headquarters of the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), set up in 2018 with $50 million in federal funding and $89 million drawn from private sector partners.

The centre will address the growing threat of cyber crime in the region

The launch of the centre was officiated by Department Home Affairs Deputy Secretary, Marc Ablong in conjunction with the Cyber 2020 Forum in January.

Ablong added that this need is driven by the magnitude of digital threats faced by Australians which has increased significantly.

He stressed that cyber crime is a growing cost to the Australian economy and the overall impact on businesses estimated to be in the billions of dollars every year and the situation will only grow, as society and economy become increasingly connected.

Australia’s Cyber Security CRC head Rachael Falk said the Cyber 2020 Forum was critical to ensuring the government could meet the challenges of the digital age.

Falk emphasised on the importance of developing a future workforce that is equipped in managing this growing concern, “It is essential that we take this opportunity have robust debate with the best and brightest around how best to predict, protect and detect threats against individuals, businesses and critical infrastructure.”

She added that this effort requires close collaboration between industry, government and the research sector.