South Devon College Skills Summit tackles dangerous cyber attacks

South Devon College recently held its annual Skills Summit, bringing together industry employers from many sectors to develop objectives for a relevant and up-to-date curriculum, based around employer needs, in order to train the workforce of the future. 

Employer partners gathered in the College to share knowledge and ideas, with this year’s summit focusing on the immediate requirement of cyber security awareness, both locally and nationally, which is a very real and pertinent threat on our everyday lives.  

Ben Pountney, Head of Business Solutions and Apprenticeships at South Devon College, welcomed the guests and introduced them to the inspirational facilities at the campus.  

“Skills are so important to us here at the College, as was noted by our most recent Ofsted inspection that highlighted our ‘comprehensive understanding of local and regional skills landscape’. 

“Our vision is about delivering training for all, and we’re keen to get your input on cyber security, whatever your level. That’s what this event is all about.” 

Steve Caunter, Assistant Principal at South Devon College, said: “It’s really important to the College that we have employer feedback for us to develop the skills and qualifications we offer. Our aim is to close the skills gap, anticipate future demand and innovation, and develop strong industrial relationships, to benefit those entering the workforce.” 

Businesses both large and small are very aware of the real risk that cyber attacks pose on a business and its operations, and the Skills Summit raised awareness of what measures can be put in place to minimise the risk, whilst understanding that qualifications and training in cyber security is an essential step in training the future workforce. 

Steve Sheppard, CEO, The Cyber Resilience Centre South West, addressed the room, highlighting how commonplace cyber attacks and hacking are in everyday life, and giving some unexpected advice. 

“When was the last time you updated your printer? Or router? They’re connected to the internet so can easily be targeted by hackers. 

“Cyber security breaches are happening on a daily basis to businesses everywhere, regardless of size. One company shockingly lost 10 years of work in one hacking attack, whilst another has now sadly gone out of business following hacking. 

“Because we don’t physically see cyber threats, it is easy to ignore. If you could see it, you would worry about it. And it can happen in various ways, from emails to payment systems ransomware.  

“Businesses have a responsibility to train every staff member in what to do if they are first in the office one morning and find they have been hacked. It is important to not just leave it to the IT department. It is vital that every business and education provider has cyber security training and puts safety measures in place to protect themselves.” 

Utilising the Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF), which allows the College to respond to the priority areas identified in the Devon and Somerset Local Skills Improvement Plan, the College has developed a cutting-edge Simulation Suite, which offers a safe and secure environment, where organisations can simulate cyber attacks and test resilience and response strategies. This allows for realistic scenarios such as malware outbreaks, malicious hacking, ransomware or phishing campaigns to take place, meaning teams can evaluate existing cyber security measures and explore potential new options to take back to the workplace.   

During the Skills Summit, delegates had the opportunity to take part in a cyber security workshop in the Simulation Suite, during which a cyber attack was simulated by a team of hackers trying to breach defences, whilst a second team worked to detect and respond to the threats. 

‘Level Up – An insight into ESports and Competitive Gaming’ was another workshop running at the event, which demonstrated how Esports covers key business strategies within the industry, such as marketing, team management, and revenue generation.  

Guest speaker Charlotte Smith, Cyber Skills Growth Lead at CyNam, talked about preparing the next generation of employees to address cyber security, working in collaboration with education providers and businesses. 

“The Cyber First programme was developed for schools and Colleges to promote cyber security and computer science in order to protect UK businesses.   

“We work alongside colleges to encourage and promote cyber security and tech qualifications to young people, using in-college events and engage in hands-on activities. We also encourage employers to offer mentoring to students, to share experience and knowledge.” 

Visiting businesses also contributed to discussions surrounding the key topics in cyber security - how a cyber attack would impact the integrity of the business and which cyber skills are needed in order to protect businesses from such a threat, giving partner employers and the local business community the chance to actively inform and shape the College’s curriculum, training and skills support for the future. 

Laurence Frewin, Principal and CEO of South Devon College, concluded the evening by saying: “We want to listen to what you need as businesses and focus on what we can do to meet that need by developing our curriculum. Cyber is something that we want to develop very quickly and the world of digital is rapidly changing and we want to meet that changing need.  

“Behaviours are so important so we want to work with you to shape these behaviours into relevant skills for business, whilst working with our students to develop power skills and non-technical abilities which will stand them in great stead to enter the business workforce.” 

The College’s Business Solutions team will now collate the output of all the discussions that took place on the night, in order to develop curriculum to support employers on their journey to a safer cyber future.