CFCI, or Centre For Cybersecurity Institute’s James Lim began his cybersecurity training initiative that aims to fill cybersecurity skills gap, because of earlier experience with incomprehensible medical jargons at the tender age of 16 when he had to make critical decisions for his mom who’d suffered a stroke.

Early experiences have contributed to James Lim’s current philosophy of empowering people with skills instead of just solutions. He also firmly believed that the industry can’t just depend on schools to feed into the talent pipeline.

James Lim, CFCI

“There are a lot of talents, people with the right attitude and aptitude, who just want a chance in cybersecurity.”

On that note, James shared a flattering statistic when he said, “The students we have trained come from very diverse backgrounds – we have former hawkers, nurses, teachers, marketers. On average, every batch intake has 74% of students from non-IT backgrounds.”

Overall, the center’s graduates have high job placement rates of 89% within six to twelve months of completing their course.

Demand on the rise

James recognizes the need for cybersecurity technical skills as well as general awareness and literacy about cybersecurity hygiene. To that end, today, the center’s training program covers networking fundamentals, penetration testing, setting up a security operations center (SOC), how to set up security controls, understanding how attacks work, and learning incident response.

The center’s goal is to provide a comprehensive 6-module “Career Kickstarter” course to give students from non-IT backgrounds the core technical skills needed to transition into cybersecurity roles. Being a relatively young company of three years, James admitted it is working on building recognition and credibility for its training programs. It is also looking to partner with higher education institutions, and other industry bodies, so as to better align its curriculum and provide more formal qualifications for its graduates.

Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility

Awareness and cybersecurity literacy is essential to thrive in today’s digital world. “Cybersecurity is no longer a good to have, but a must-have. This means basic awareness of how things work, because the industry is just moving so fast,” James said.

When asked about how to help create awareness and skills among vulnerable segments of society like children and senior citizens, James did not skip a beat in listing out what can be done. For him, best practices include activities that target younger groups through parents and schools with tailored age-appropriate content and workshops.

Also, there has to be an effort that focuses on educating the elderly/older adults through community centers and associations, with patience and guidance to help them understand cybersecurity concepts and best practices.

CFCI’s office in Singapore

James also thinks it is important to build a supportive community network for the elderly, so they have multiple trusted sources to check with rather than just relying on their children who may be occupied and busy. In this way, the right people and resources are in place to effectively drive these community outreach initiatives that can produce real impact rather than superficial outcomes.

“It’s not just one country’s issue”

Cybersecurity vulnerabilities in one country can have ripple effects around the world.

Singapore is widely perceived as having a “digitalized workforce”, indicating also that the country is highly reliant on technology and digital systems.

It is important to build a supportive community network for the elderly, so they have multiple trusted sources to check with rather than just relying on their children who may be occupied and busy.

James noted significant demand for both cybersecurity awareness training and technical skills training in Singapore, and also added that CFCI is looking to expand its training programs to other Southeast Asian markets like India, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

He had noted that Singapore is not just a financial hub in this region, but also that it depends on its interconnected people and services. In this sense, the workforce, not just in Singapore, but around the region and around the globe, needs to be trained to be ready for cybersecurity risks, as the chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

“It only takes one person to click on the wrong link, open up a port, or allow a backdoor to happen, which can have ripple effects across this interconnected workforce,” James said. This also serves to highlight how important it is for basic cybersecurity hygiene and awareness to permeate not just in organizations, but also at every level of society.

He emphasized that training programs for this interconnected workforce is highly important for cybersecurity resiliency. That cybersecurity is a team sport has never been more true than it is now when cybersecurity basics are the key for digital resiliency of a country, its economy, and her people.