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Students from the Guernsey College of Further Education (GCFE) took part in a network workshop this week from C5 Alliance, as the company continues to focus its efforts on upskilling the next generation of digital professionals.
Head of Technical Solutions, Matt Ferbrache is the firm’s CISCO IT network specialist; he led the IT network workshop on Thursday 27 May to BTEC level three students, who will be leaving college at the end of this academic year. The session provided the students with valuable insights into configuring and securing enterprise level communication devices that provide internal and external network capability to the internet.
The students learnt how to configure firewalls and routers as well as gaining an understanding of how the digital security threat landscape continues to change and in turn needs to be managed with an increasingly sophisticated approach.
Mr Ferbrache said: “In our day to day work we continue to uncover possible compromises and network vulnerabilities, there really is no room for complacency where security is concerned. Guernsey therefore needs to support and encourage a resource of junior network engineers with the right knowledge and problem solving skills.”
C5 Alliance also donated two sets of networking devices to the GCFE, to enable the students to study practical configuration and fault finding, enabling them to gain practical skills on industry standard hardware.
Robert Childs, security lecturer at the GCFE said: “Data leakage is the current key concern in the offshore world, and knowing what has been compromised after a breach is as important as detecting the breach itself.
“Our students therefore need to gain as much hands on experience and big picture capability as possible to be attractive to employers”.
C5 Alliance managing director, Marc Laine, said: “It’s very important that we support the development of local students in this field. Data security is vital to the safeguarding and therefore growth of our economy and we need to ensure that we engage with the next generation of IT professionals to equip them with all the right skills to cultivate digital industries.”
C5 Alliance launched an academy in 2014 with the aim of inspiring local talent and to cultivate a steady stream of returning graduates. They offer a number of opportunities for graduates and undergraduates looking for a career in the local technology sector and have supported numerous students via a bursary scheme. Applications for the next bursary, for students beginning their studies in September 2017 are accepted until January 2017.
