Monash Tech School had the opportunity to breathe new life into Supercyber, delivering to a delegate from the City of Monash Council as an interactive professional development experience.
The facility was abuzz with energy throughout the full-day program with attendees and facilitators alike engaged in critical thinking and meaningful discourse surrounding how industry professionals can remain cyber secure.
The 38-strong cohort from the Monash Council engaged in a delivery that kept the spirit of Supercyber intact but was tailored to offer practical solutions for the real threats and issues faced in day-to-day operations. It was an exciting chance for our team to knowledge share, and provide tangible learning outcomes in the fields of cybersecurity and communication. In particular, they were keen on fostering broader, cross-departmental collaboration within their team, something which fits the nature of Supercyber well.
Traditional deliveries of Supercyber are viewed through the lens of the workplace, where we place students in the shoes of industry professionals. Delivering the program to active professionals thus allowed for a richer exploration of key themes as they had tangible experiences of cybersecurity to draw upon.
The day consisted of five activity rotations; the first was to experience a mock cyber attack through a simulated virtual environment, which got them to challenge their own online habits when dealing with threats such as phishing and unsecured networks. They then explored the flow of messages through online mediums and reflected on how an overreliance on specific streams may impact communications in high-pressure situations.
Participants next explored the zero-sum tradeoff that exists between accessibility and security within a workplace, mimicking the real-world decisions that occur in both a virtual and physical environment. They were then exposed to how malicious actors may bypass these security measures, such that they are better equipped to respond to this threat in the future.
The Supercyber experience was brought together with an interactive narrative experience set within an organisational scope. The activity aimed to bring together the learnings throughout the day to facilitate deeply-informed decision-making to keep an organisation cyber-safe.
The day then concluded with an activity that is not part of our student Supercyber delivery, creating a Skills Market. This activity asks participants to set up a market showing off their wares - strong skills, hidden skills and desired skills - then peruse the resulting marketplace. Where the activities of Supercyber built interpersonal skills that are broadly applicable, the Skills Market aimed to build interpersonal connections within the City of Monash that are more directly applicable.
We thank the City Of Monash for this opportunity to foster collaboration within the Monash Precinct Network and look forward to leveraging off each other in the future.
