REFLECTION IN LINKEDIN LEARNING COURSE: CYBERSECURITY FOUNDATIONS (For Prelims)

In his book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, Nassim Nicholas Taleb explained the importance of addressing the challenges of unexpected and unpredictable events that might happen in our society. One of my favorite quotes in life is, “Ang Buhay ay Gulatan. Kapag hindi ka handa, lagi kang gulat.” Our life has a way of surprising and shocking us with the things that we do not expect. Take for instance the situation that we are in right now. No one expected that the consequence of COVID-19 would be as catastrophic as what we currently experience. Hence, it is a must for every one of us to equip ourselves with the necessary knowledge, ideas, and skills that we can use to come up with solutions in addressing the unpredictable and unexpected challenges and problems of our society. This is the main burden of the course CYBERSECURITY FOUNDATIONS.

Dr. Malcolm Shore reminds the companies and organizations to be equipped and prepared in facing the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity of the Digital Age. Utilizing technology brings us with a lot of benefits and opportunities. However, we cannot deny the fact that it also generates a new set of modern difficulties that most of us are still on the process of learning. This is the reason Dr. Shore created this video lecture.

He provided a comprehensive discussion on the relevance of assessing and mitigating the risks that companies and organizations may encounter. He said that they should create frameworks that are in alignment with international standards like ISO 27001. In the video, he explained that ISO 27001 is a standard that organizations and companies can adopt in order to implement Information Management System (IMS). IMS is very pertinent to secure relevant and confidential information. A lot of companies and organizations have already started adopting and developing that kind of system given the context of Digital world where every information is now being digitized.

The implications of COVID-19 forced the academic community to shift from the traditional setting of face-to-face learning to distance learning. In the context of higher education, most of the colleges and universities have adopted online learning as a major part of their learning delivery modality. However, there is a big question that our universities and colleges must address. How prepared are they in assessing, addressing, and managing the risks of cyber security risks and threats?

Last year, news of information system and website hacking of some colleges and universities have been confirmed and broadcasted. This is the kind of problem that Academic Administrators and Leaders should address with collaborative efforts. The situation of Online Distance Learning calls for the urgency of the Academic Administrators and Leaders to adopt a more advanced Information Management System that is align with International Standards.

Cyber security threats and risks are becoming more and more advance due to the intelligence and talent of our young people. As a matter of fact, most of the hackers are members of the young generation. If these young people are speeding up their knowledge to pose cyber threats and risks, then the Academic community should also double up their development of Information Security System.

Furthermore, educators should also equip and inform themselves with the knowledge that they need to become more adept in dealing with the uncertainties, risks, and threats of the kind of learning environment that we have today. In the age of information where students are technologically informed and equipped, teachers should not just learn the basic skills and information about computer and technology. It is just so sad that there are teachers who graduated without understanding the kind of learning environment today.

Change is inevitable. We are all required to adapt to the changes that we experience today and think of ways that we can implement to thrive in the Digital Learning.

#Cybersecurity