Award recognises Deakin's excellence in cyber security education

The Australian Information Security Association (AISA) has named Deakin University as its Cyber Security Educator of the Year for the second year in a row.

Professor John Yearwood, Head of Deakin’s School of Information Technology, accepted the award on behalf of Deakin at AISA’s Australian Cyber Conference 2018 in October.

In part, Deakin was recognised for offering a ‘comprehensive range of cyber security qualifications and courses across multiple campuses and in the cloud enabling students to access content through a variety of delivery mechanisms’.

‘Providing high quality cyber security education that enables access at different levels, multiple locations and in the cloud is a critical aspect of tackling cyber security issues as well as the demand for a cyber skilled workforce and it is great to have this recognition from AISA,’ Professor Yearwood says.

Professor Matthew Warren is Deputy Director of Deakin’s Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation (CSRI).

‘Winning this award two years in a row is evidence of Deakin’s dedication to cyber security education and the holistic approach we take,’ Professor Warren says.

The 2018 awards were a double celebration for Deakin, with School of IT student Max Power named Cyber Security Tertiary Student of the Year. His engagement with other learning opportunities, work ethic and willingness to assist fellow students in their studies were some of the attributes listed in the description of his achievements.

‘This award doesn't have enough room on it for the names of all the people who have helped me on my journey,’ Mr Power says.

‘I still have a long way to go, but I'm already so far from where I used to be and that's what I'm really proud of.’

Established in 1999, AISA is a not-for-profit organisation which is the recognised peak industry body for information security in Australia with a membership of over 3500 individuals and corporations across the country. Damien Manuel, Director of CSRI, is the current AISA chairman, a voluntary position.

A listing of the 2018 AISA awards is on their website.