Jack K grew up in the hinterland of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. He is in the first year of study for a Bachelor of Information Technology at the University of the Sunshine Coast. JACK K Bachelor of Information Technology student at the University of the Sunshine Coast
Suppose you met an old friend from your last year at school who, knowing nothing about cybersecurity or what you do, asks you what you are doing. How do you answer them to ‘sell’ them on the idea of a career in cybersecurity?
and threats and white hat hacking, which I found quite interesting.
What aspect do you find least interesting or useful? What I find least interesting are the theoretical and
From what I have seen so far most people know
mathematical aspects of the course, which require
the word cybersecurity but don’t know what it really
quite a lot of work to understand. I probably will not
means. So I usually have to take it gently if I am not
specialise in a particular area of cybersecurity but I
to overwhelm them. I would tell them there are a few
am still uncertain.
kinds of cybersecurity. However, they are all generally connected.
What is your favourite source of general information about cybersecurity
Last semester in the bachelor’s degree course I am
I get most of my general information and updates
completing, I did a course on computer security and
about cybersecurity from YouTube, Twitter
I learnt how to prepare and protect hardware and
and Reddit.
software from cyber attacks and threats. I also learnt also tell them there are always jobs for people in
What measures do you have in place for your personal cybersecurity?
cybersecurity and they pay well.
I do not have the same passwords for any accounts
how some of these attacks are carried out. I would
and my passwords are all saved in a password
We hear all the time that the world of cybersecurity is changing rapidly, particularly with the rate of threat evolution. Do you feel your course is doing a good job of being current?
manager. Most of my sensitive accounts are also
Technology is always changing and improving, but I undertook last semester was new to my university
How does the reality of cybersecurity as you experience it today fit with your understanding when you first thought about studying it?
and covered a large range of topics in cybersecurity,
When I first learned about cybersecurity I was
which were recent. It was taught and coordinated by
probably about seven or eight years old and was
a former US government agent specialising in cyber
always told not to share passwords or my home
intelligence. Because it was only an introductory level
address. I now have a much broader understanding
course we did not explore many of the topics of cyber
of how easy it can be to be cyber attacked, but I have
and computer security in-depth, but we covered quite
also learned what to do to prepare for an attack, and
a lot.
how to deal with it.
so is the threat to this new technology. The course
protected by two-factor authentication and my hardware is checked by threat detection and antivirus software.
What aspect of your studies excites you the most? What I find most exciting about my studies is how to protect hardware and software from cyber attacks
I S S U E 11
WOMEN IN SECURITY MAGAZINE
127
