Raffles Education Corp College

ON the top floor of Raffles Education Corp College (REC College), there is a "restricted-access" computer lab.

Only students in the school's Infocomm Security programmes are allowed to enter and use the computers in there.

One such student was Mr Michael Chin, 23,who graduated from the two-year Advanced Diploma in Infocomm Security course last December.

Within the confines of this lab, he experienced first-hand what it was like to "hack" into another computer.

But rest assured.

Mr Chin was simply "learning how to catch a thief by thinking like a thief" as part of a Penetration Testing module.

He said: "We have to test the computer server to know where its vulnerabilities lie so that we then know how to protect it.

"I used to think that hacking meant destroying all the data in a computer, but I now know that hackers usually secretly access a system to steal valuable information, like bank passwords or client details from corporate databases."

All the computers within this special lab are isolated from the school's main server for security purposes.

Before they can enrol, students have to sign a non-disclosure form for the module and an ethical code-of conduct agreement for the Advanced Diploma course.

REC College's School of Infocomm lecturer Chan Meng Fai explained: "The non-disclosure form is meant to legally safeguard the party delivering the course content. If students don't sign the form, they can't take the module.

"But more importantly,we try to imbue ethical notions in our students throughout the course."

After completing the Penetration Testing module, Mr Chin sat for an external exam to become a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH). The certification is awarded by the International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council), an academic partner of REC College.

The EC-Council has certified IT staff from organisations, like the United Nations and the US Department of Defence.

Mr Chin, who is from Brunei, said both his academic qualification and IT professional certifications helped him to secure a job as a network administrator within two weeks of graduation.

Ona daily basis, however, his job calls for more basic computer skills, such as those he acquired to become a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP).

WELL-PREPARED

The CEH and MCP are just two of the seven IT professional industry certifications that REC College's industry-focused Advanced Diploma course prepares its students for. Examinations for these internationally-recognised certifications are conducted externally.

Mr Chan said some of his students, who are not Singaporeans, might choose to take the external examinations in their home countries, where they may cost less.

The lecturer, who is in his late 20s, has been in the IT industry for many years and is a Certified EC-Council Instructor and a Microsoft-Certified Trainer.

He said: "Most of the assignments we give are case studies of real-world situations as we want to prepare students for the actual industry.

"The skills they learn are applicable from the first day that they start work.

"They can branch out to any job in the IT sector - not just in IT security - as they've also learnt programming and network management skills."

Graduates of the Advanced Diploma course can go on to pursue a one-year BSc(Hons) Infocomm Security programme, which is validated and awarded by the University of Wales.

Applicants with higher diplomas in other disciplines will be assessed for admission on a case-by-case basis.

Ms Elaine Goh, REC College's assistant sales and marketing manager, said the school foresees an increased demand for Infocomm Security professionals worldwide, given the rise in cybercrimes in the past few years.

Graduates of the Infocomm Security programmes will qualify for a range of jobs.

These range from security-related ones, like security analysts, to network and systems-related ones, like network administrator, to IT management ones, such as IT managers.