Second-year students studying for the Diploma in Cyber & Digital Security.

Temasek Polytechnic (TP) (www.tp.edu.sg) and IBM (www.ibm.com) have established the TP-IBM IT Security Centre which aims to train over 400 staff and students over five years to meet the industry’s growing demand for IT security professionals.

The S$200,000 centre will provide training based on the IBM Information Security Framework, which includes IBM’s portfolio of security solutions and best practices to help clients evaluate their current security programmes and plan a comprehensive enterprise-wide security strategy.

Students from the Temasek Informatics and IT School will receive practical experience on leading-edge security and privacy solutions as well as opportunities to work with IBM’s IT security experts on client projects.

The objective of the training is to equip students with a solid foundation in various aspects of security, including physical, personnel, application, identity and access management, threat mitigation, transaction and data integrity, privacy and governance. The alliance is also set to identify best practice processes and develop new security solutions.

“The TP-IBM collaboration extends beyond security products and technologies to include the training of our students and staff in project management, leadership methodology and processes, industry standards, and business modelling,” said Mr Boo Kheng Hua, Principal and Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Polytechnic.

IBM will provide advice and assistance on the setup of the new centre as well as consultation and industry insights to help TP develop the curriculum, course synopsis, materials and case studies relevant for students of the Diploma in Cyber & Digital Security at the Temasek Informatics & IT School.

Nearly 400 staff and students will be trained over the next five years by integrating IT security management programmes into the curriculum of their Diploma in Cyber & Digital Security. TP has about 120 students currently enrolled in its three-year Cyber & Digital Security course. The pioneer batch of students with the acquired IT security skills is due to graduate in March 2009.

Students from TP will also be exposed to real-world experiences through an internship programme with IBM that is supported by industry partners such as the Land Transport Authority of Singapore. They will be attached to IBM for a minimum period of three months. The internship programme, which covers areas such as IT Security Audits and Controls, Incident Handling and Response, Threat Monitoring and Patch Management, Vulnerability Assessment and Handling, Security Risk Assessment and Log Review and Developing Security Standards and Guidelines, will enable the students to put what they have learnt into practice.