SINGAPORE -The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) is setting up a cyber security training facility to teach students how to protect critical industrial and manufacturing equipment from being hacked.
This is an expansion of the current curriculum that focuses on information technology (IT), where students learn to manage computer systems and devices, and secure network servers.
The school has partnered ST Engineering to set up the facility, and the company will offer at least four internship placements for ITE students each year, under a memorandum of understanding signed on Wednesday (Jan 20).
Around 300 students from ITE's cyber security courses can attend classes in the new Centre of Excellence for Cyber Security, which is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of this year.
Students will be taught how to defend operational technology (OT) systems, a category of computing that manages industrial and manufacturing machines and processes.
OT systems are often used for important infrastructure such as traffic light controls, train signalling systems and the electricity grid.
The new facility will include a "cyber range" - managed and developed by ST Engineering - where students can practise their cyber warfare training by immersing themselves in virtual environments.
Students will be put through interactive and realistic simulations of cyber threats and scenarios, and will be trained to manage security threats to OT networks and applications, said ITE in a statement.
Mr Foong Chee Weng, senior course manager of network and security technology at ITE College Central, said the simulations could include mock-ups of the devices and machinery in OT systems, and students will have to learn how the systems work to defend them.
He said there is a growing need for cyber security professionals to be trained in defending OT systems, as such systems are increasingly integrated with IT networks. For example, with the growth of Internet-of-things, more devices are now connected to the internet, he said.
Hackers who have infiltrated an IT system could tap its links to an OT system to do real-world damage to devices or machinery, like blocking a traffic light system or even shutting down power grids, said Mr Foong.
Mr Goh Eng Choon, ST Engineering's head of cyber business, noted that a spike in cyber attacks in the operational technology environment calls for a "new strategy to train professionals in OT cyber security"
He added: "The partnership with ITE allows us to help students expand their IT and OT competencies, which furthers our contribution in building the talent pool to support Singapore's cyber security needs."
