As online crime becomes increasingly pervasive and sophisticated around the world, cybersecurity professionals are needed more than ever.

To help meet this demand in the Caribbean, the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College is offering new training through a partnership with the Virginia-based International Information System Security Certification Consortium.

The non-profit member association for cybersecurity professionals, known as ISC2, will assist in offering a series of certifications in the territory.

“Graduates of the various courses are in demand in the industry worldwide,” HLSCC President Dr. Richard Georges said. “This partnership will allow us to offer our students to become more employable, and businesses will have the skills they need to deal with cyber-attacks.”

Alex Mortimer, academic partnerships lead for ISC2, said the organisation was attracted to the college’s vision to educate students at various levels through practice-based cybersecurity education.

“With organisations under constant cyber-attack, we must work together to educate everyone,” he said. “Together, we have developed a cybersecurity career pathway through our certifications for all levels of experience, from Cybersecurity Certification to Certified Information Systems Security Professional.”

Veronique Forbes-King, the manager of the Centre for Professional Development at HLSCC, said the initial courses will teach the basics of cybersecurity to students from all backgrounds.
“The first certification we will start with is the Certified in Cybersecurity (CC) certification,” she said. “This certification introduces students to cybersecurity so that they can learn the basics and prepare themselves for a junior role in the modern cybersecurity workforce.”

Later, she said, courses will be offered for more experienced cybersecurity professionals who wish to become “Certified Cloud Security Professionals.”

This certification, she said, “assures employers that the individual student has the knowledge of Cloud Security as well as being up to date with industry standards.”

Advanced courses

Further course offerings are expected to include delivering the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) Certification for experienced security practitioners, managers and executives.

The CISSP, which is often used as a benchmark by hiring managers, meets the conditions of the ISO/IEC Standard 17024, according to the college.