Immersive Labs, a Bristol-based cyber security start-up that helps identify and develop talent through a cloud-based cyber training and assessment platform, has launched The Digital Cyber Academy (DCA). The DCA encourages full or part-time students to develop cyber skills by immersing users in real-world exercises through online cyber labs and establishing a leader-board that employers and recruiters can use to fill their cyber security skills gaps.
Briefly, the Digital Cyber Academy is an online cyber skills platform that streams real-world exercises on demand, through browser based labs. Users, immersed in the challenges, develop their skills to complete the exercises. Gamification is stressed by the lab developers, as users are rewarded for each one they complete. The more they complete, the higher up the leader-board they rise.
James Hadley, CEO and Founder of Immersive Labs, who was also a former instructor at GCHQ’s Summer School, explained to a launch event at Level 39, Canary Wharf, London Docklands (pictured; view), how he saw from his work at GCHQ:
Classroom learning is not conducive to practical cyber skills.
Professional certifications were not a good indicator of aptitude.
Academic background has little bearing on who makes a good cyber security person.
Hence Hadley created the DCA to help university students go from academia to employment. Students from any academic background may take part, not just the more traditional degree students, such as computer science, so far often the pre-requisite for a cyber job application. Employers can focus on the applicant’s skills and achievements as developed within the platform, rather than be biased by whether or not someone has the “right” degree.
James Hadley said: “We have acknowledged that academic background has little bearing on an individual’s ability to develop much sought-after cyber skills. The Digital Cyber Academy will enable millions of students to develop knowledge and hands-on skills, allowing them to be recognised as highly cyber skilled by potential employers. We’re looking forward to building a community of cyber security talent from around the world, on a single platform.”
The Digital Cyber Academy was introduced by Robert Hannigan, a former director of GCHQ. He said of Immersive Labs’ gamified method of cyber training: “Identifying, developing and measuring practical cyber security skills is the great challenge for all companies today. Most traditional training methods are outdated and we need to think differently for a new generation of intuitive, competitive and diverse individuals. The criminal world has been good at recruiting new talent often found through online gaming, it’s time we take a similar crowd-sourced approach that is profoundly disruptive for the greater good. The DCA from Immersive Labs is the most exciting thing I’ve seen in this space: scalable, agile and appropriate to the way a new generation learns. It has the potential to disrupt and transform this crucial market.”
Anyone in full or part-time study in the UK, United States, Australia and Singapore can sign up to the Academy. As Hadley told the event replying to a question from the floor, other countries are to be added as demand grows. The platform is free for students and is supported by FTSE 100 enterprise sponsors soon to be announced. Visit https://immersivelabs.co.uk/dca-2/.
