Christophe Doche is the Executive Director of the Optus Macquarie University Cyber Security Hub and architect of Macquarie’s cyber security degree programs. He recently sat down with 2SER’s Sean Britten to explain why Australia desperately needs more cyber professionals. 

How would you characterise the current need for cyber security workers?

The need for cyber security workers is huge. It’s a big problem, both in Australia and worldwide – we are losing the battle against cybercriminals at the moment.

The cost of cybercrime is estimated to be $4.5 billion in Australia last year. Worldwide, the cost was estimated to be US $450 billion in 2016 and is projected to reach US $2 trillion this year.

So the risks are there. The costs are enormous. And at the same time, we don’t have enough people – there’s a shortfall of skilled people of about 1.5 to 2 million jobs worldwide.

The image that pops into a lot of people’s minds when we talk about cyber security would be Russian hackers interfering in the last US elections, or fears that China could do the same here in Australia. Is the web becoming the new battleground for nations?

Absolutely. It is the battleground right now. It’s much more convenient to do a ransomware attack than it is to go and rob a bank with a gun.  Why would you send troops when you could send a virus?

In 2010, for example, there was a virus called Stuxnet that was used to take out nuclear capabilities in Iran. It’s very hard to know who was responsible for the attack – was the US, was it Israel? We’re still not sure. Similarly, a couple of years ago, before Russia invaded Ukraine, they first took out all the critical infrastructure with a cyberattack.

So, is digital the new battleground? Absolutely, and it’s only going to get worse.

How equipped is Australia, as a country, to deal with this new battleground?

I would say that Australia is not any different to other countries in the world – struggling with these very complex issues.

What we see is that people in Australia are not very prepared. I talk to a lot of people and I think it probably comes from the fact that we live in a relatively safe country – we are on an island, separated from the rest of the world,  and we tend to translate our physical security into digital security, which is completely not applicable. Digitally, we’re at the doorstep of Russia, of China. So we’re not at all safe in the digital world, and our behaviour needs to change.

There are some positives – for instance, the NSW Government has a new Cyber Security policy that’s a first step in the right direction. We’ve seen lots of investment coming from Federal government, with the launch in 2016 Cyber Security Strategy which was the first step to develop this industry.

So, there’s lots of work to do, but I see lots of positives as well.

Currently, most current cyber security workers have come from different areas of IT. Does this present a problem, not having a specific security background?

I think the best mix includes some strong technical capabilities, but that’s not enough. Because cyber security is not just an IT issue – it’s a business risk. So, you have to add something else – it could be law, business acumen, financial risk understanding. criminology, psychology…

Psychology is very interesting because the human factor is crucial. Studies have shown that more than 60 per cent of breaches have come from a human error – whether it is intentional or an accident ­– from the people working in the organisation. If you understand the way humans behave, you have a chance to design safer systems.

All these characteristics [of cyber security] lead to a very broad range of careers, and people from a very broad range of backgrounds can be successful in these industries.

The good thing about the Cyber Security Hub at Macquarie is that all disciplines are connected, so we can teach both the technical and soft skills in an integrated way. For example, in our Introduction to Cyber Security unit, students are taught by academics from three different disciplines – computing, business and criminology. We really want to tackle cyber security as a complex and interdisciplinary issue.

To learn warfare, people would often play war games. If we’re talking corporate and governmental warfare here, I’m wondering if there’s a comparison there…?

Absolutely. Simulation is a very powerful way to make people realise the impact of a potential breach. We’re working on an event at the end of the year where we will do exactly that – bring people from corporate to go through a full-day simulation of an attack, and then learn from that.

You’re training students to hack, in order to teach them how to defend against hackers. Is there a fear that they could cross to the ‘dark side’ and become black hats themselves?

There is absolutely this fear – it’s real. We are equipping students with scary skills.

One way to respond to that is to bring the question of ethics absolutely every time, everywhere – we reinforce the importance of ethics at every opportunity.

But actually, what I’ve seen is quite the opposite. We’ve managed to rescue a few students who might have crossed that line in the past. But everything changes once they see that they can apply those skills for the greater good, once they realise that there is a possible career in what they enjoy doing. They see the incredible demand. We have industry speakers coming to our lectures and presenting their work and company to our students and they say, “we have ten jobs to be filled tomorrow – we need people right now.”

Given the large gap in the cyber security workforce, how are you going about attracting students into this area?

We’re quite successful – or programs have grown very rapidly. In 2017 we had 70 students across the whole year and this year we have 140 in Session 1 alone. So, there’s a lot of interest.

The tougher question is how to attract more females. The good news is we went from 10 per cent to 20 per cent female in our programs, but it’s about the tireless work of explaining the opportunities and having role models that can show them there is a pathway. Out of our six Optus-sponsored scholarship holders, four are women, and we have PhD students and of course academics that are women. We can use these good stories to bring more women into the mix.

There will be enormous rewards for any student who is brave enough to take the leap.

With the recent go-live of our upgraded RPL Tracker and CTR systems – a significant milestone in our Program Beacon journey – we thought it was time to peel back another layer around this project and share some information that you might not know!

We’re building a tool for faculties to record mapping information between the current and new curriculum

The information recorded will be used for a variety of purposes such as preparation of students’ data and communications for students’ migration, helping us define transition structures, with fees setting, load planning and responding to students’ enquiries in the future.

We’re making changes to AMIS to support the implementation of our new 2020 curriculum

If you are the owner of an application consuming AMIS data, you may want to check whether you have rules based on AMIS configuration data (e.g. category type) and if so, update those rules according to the new configuration. You can also request access to Databank test environments if you want to check your import of AMIS data by raising a OneHelp ticket. For more information email Program Beacon: beacon@mq.edu.au

We have a whole new range of double degrees on offer from 2020

‘Double degree’ is a term we will use when 2020 students are studying two Bachelor or two Master degrees at the same time e.g Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Information Technology concurrently. A key benefit for students enrolled in double degrees is that many can complete their course of study in less time. Information about double degrees can be found on our website.

We also have new range of combined degrees on offer

A combined degree is a term we use when 2020 students are studying a Bachelor and Master degree at the same time. Some might have known these previously as ‘vertical double degrees’. Many students enrolled in combined degrees can compete their course of study in less time.

Our new CMS will provide one go-to-system to replace our existing webforms

Not only that, it will also replace ten other separate systems we currently use to manage our curriculum. That’s quite a transformation!

We have to check and analyse the impact of the new curriculum and AMIS changes on 800 different AMIS reports

For owners of applications using AMIS data, please note that not all AMIS reports will need to be updated. If you have not been in touch with us already and need your AMIS reports updating or have a question about this, please send an email to Program Beacon beacon@mq.edu.au

We have just upgraded the Tracker RPL form and Credit Transfer Register as part of implementing our new 2020 curriculum

The systems now conform to our new 2020 curriculum, with a number of new features on offer including multi-unit functionality and ability to push approved precedents from Tracker to CTR, together with improvements for users such as better search functionality and 2-way communication between Tracker and CTR.

Anything else you want to know? Email beacon@mq.edu.au

The first stage of our curriculum transformation was the development of our new curriculum architecture and a refresh of our course offering for students. Colleagues from across the University worked tirelessly to ensure that all 2020 courses were submitted and approved by Senate last year, ready for the next stage – curriculum implementation. This was a significant achievement and we are now in the market with a selection of our double degrees, as well as the new course structures for our 2020 students.

View 2020 course offerings by visiting courses.mq.edu.au and selecting ‘Starting 2020’ on the top right of the page. >>

In parallel to the curriculum work last year, we also commenced an upgrade of two major student systems ­– the Curriculum Management System (CMS) and Student Management System (SMS). This year, both streams of work have been bundled together, along with the detailed work of transitioning courses and students, under Program Beacon to make sure we are working in the most efficient and aligned way to deliver our 2020 vision.

While we’ve come a long way on our journey, there’s still a great deal of work to be done to implement our new courses and support the transfer of our current students to the new offerings.

“Foremost in our thoughts must be the migration and transition of our students to their new courses of study. In this endeavour, it is important to [remember] … the Vice-Chancellor’s message to our current students at the end of last year, where he provided reassurance that that no current student will be disadvantaged by the curriculum changes. This remains our touchstone as we embark on the implementation phase.”
– Gail White, Executive Director Student Engagement and Registrar

While many staff may be familiar with the benefits of our new 2020 curriculum will deliver for students, fewer may know about the systems transformation work going on, and how it supports the successful implementation of our curriculum.

Gail adds:
“The new systems will make governance oversight of our curriculum more streamlined and make it easier for our students to interact with us – easier to enrol, easier to navigate courses, easier to access information etc. Most importantly, both new systems will reduce the inefficiencies and complexities currently experienced by academic and professional staff. This will allow them to focus on work that really matters, rather than on manual processes and administration.”

In coming weeks, Program Beacon will continue to support and engage with faculties and operational teams, build tools for implementation and provide a regular update on activities through This Week, Teche and other Macquarie communication channels.

If you want to know more about Program Beacon, email beacon@mq.edu.au or log a OneHelp ticket (via curriculum architecture and implementation). If students have questions before we commence our direct communication with them mid-year, you can direct them to AskMQ.

Team, implementation awaits!