Canadian infosec professionals and would-be pros have two new learning opportunities:
Ryerson University’s Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst recently announced a series of new courses for infosec pros with U.S.-based SANS Institute that will include Canadian content.
Classes will initially start online on June 14, but when the pandemic restrictions ease, they will be run in Ryerson’s downtown Toronto campus and the Catalyst’s Brampton, Ont., headquarters.
Courses start at US$7,270.
The second opportunity comes from CyberNB, a provincially created New Brunswick non-profit to boost the cybersecurity sector. CyberNB announced a 12-week virtual Cyber Bootcamp for people with non-IT backgrounds who want a career in the sector.
The course starts on Sept. 13 and costs $13,000.
The Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, which opened in Brampton, Ont., in 2019, is a learning and innovation centre that offers SANS-developed courses for women, new Canadians and displaced workers.
The new partnership offers cybersecurity training programs – called SANS Catalyst Community Courses, for cybersecurity professionals, executive director Charles Finlay said in an interview.
“The courses offer two elements: Some of SANS’ most popular programs – a boot camp, hackers tools and techniques, incident handling – plus Canadian perspectives workshops. This is content we deliver which contextualizes the SANS curriculum in the Canadian regulatory and legal context,” Finlay explained.
Students can access the Catalyst Cyber Range for an extra fee, where they can hone their skills against a wide variety of attack scenarios in simulated network environments.
The training is aimed at pros who want to advance their skills, Finlay says. “What makes this unique is it’s SANS training for Canadians. That’s new, and, we think, much needed.”
There won’t be a clash with cybersecurity courses taught at Ryerson, he said.
Offering experienced IT workers courses broadens the Catalyst’s training for minority groups, which is fully funded by Ottawa, Rogers Communications, and the Royal Bank. “It’s a new milestone for us and a very exciting development,” Finlay noted.
The SANS Institute offers more than 60 courses in-person, as well as through virtual cybersecurity training.
Working to meet the demand
The 12-week Cyber Bootcamp offered by CyberNB and Lighthouse Labs aims to give students with non-technical backgrounds and former members of the Canadian Forces the skills and training they need to launch a career in cybersecurity. One of the goals is to help meet the demand for cybersecurity talent.
Graduates will be qualified for roles such as a cybersecurity specialist or technician, a SOC (security operations centre) analyst level 1, or a cybersecurity incident analyst or responder.
As part of the program, graduates will be matched with employers from across the country.
“As Canada’s top programming and coding bootcamp, Lighthouse Labs was a natural partner in this ground-breaking training program,” Dillon Donahue, CyberNB’s director of workforce and skills, said in a statement. “They’re a national leader in finding the best ways to train the next generation of tech workers, and we’re excited to apply their approach to cybersecurity training. “
Following an introductory one-month self-study preparation course on computer operations, students will receive training through a mix of live online classrooms and self-guided learning. Each week of the program features a different theme, including server administration, network security, threat modelling and analysis and incident response.
Although the program starts in September, applications are now being accepted. The $13,000 fee includes the prep course and career placement help.