AUS holds Cyber Security Boot Camp to spread security awareness to general computer users

American University of Sharjah (AUS) has recently held a Cyber Security Boot Camp to spread security awareness to general computer users. The boot camp addressed cybercrime and included lectures, live demonstrations, real-world examples and interactive practical labs.

The three-day camp was intended for students and professionals looking to expand their knowledge in computer and network security and make them more aware of the cyber security threats and ways to protect themselves. Participating professionals included representatives from Mubadala, Dubal, Sharjah Free Zone, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and AUS, to name a few.

"The use of IT is so common these days and people are using it to do a multitude of tasks, from paying their bills online to staying in touch with their friends. This shifts the dynamic of hackers, who unlike five years ago, are no longer choosing to target major organizations and their servers but individuals instead," said Dr. Fadi Aloul, the camp organizer, who is Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the AUS College of Engineering. "Hackers are now targeting the weakest link-human beings-and by obtaining the password of just one student, they could gain access to so much more," he said.

Many organizations are now trying to help professionals and university and high school students manage their accounts, thereby taking proactive steps to prevent cybercrime. A prominent theme of the AUS Cyber Security Boot Camp was securing individual accounts.

Topics addressed in the boot camp included information security, hacker types, goals, motivations and targets; challenges of securing information; social engineering and identity theft attacks; password security and encryption; wireless and mobile security; web security and phishing attacks and email security and spam attacks; to name a few. Attendees learned about the latest cyber security threats and attacks against users, at home and in the office. A half day was dedicated to the safe use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

"The training environment was excellent as were the topics, trainer and venue. We had the flexibility of raising questions at any time and the camp has helped me to enrich the cyber security details and related knowledge. I learned new and interesting topics which will help me in increasing the level of security awareness in my organization. In one word: amazing," said participant, Maryam Bukhashem, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority.