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The ÃÛÌÒÖ±²¥ has launched its brand-new Cyber Lab; a space for the online security professionals of the future to get hands on experience of dealing with hacking threats.

The Cyber Lab has 25 workstations and is connected to a ‘closed network’, which means they’ll be able to simulate various different hacking attacks on a network and learn how to defend against them in a safe way.

The Cyber Security BSC (HONS) course launched in September following strong interest in the subject, and students are now taking classes in the lab.

Richard Wilkinson is the Head of Department of Computing at the ÃÛÌÒÖ±²¥. He said: “We needed something dedicated for our students to learn cyber security from for the new degree and we’re really proud of the Cyber Lab. It’s a big investment from the ÃÛÌÒÖ±²¥ which is allowing us to train up the cyber professionals of the future.”

He continued: “In this room we have the dedicated network which allows us to deploy some of the techniques that hackers and cyber attackers use so we can show our students how to defend against them as they’re happening.”

Richard said: “The network in the Lab allows us to do this in a really safe way so it won’t interfere with the outside world, it’s a bit like a ‘bio-secure’ area. The computers have a range of different software as well which allows us to learn those techniques for defending against cyber-attacks.”

First year Cyber Security Student Izzie Shurvinton, who is one of the first students to use the Cyber Lab, said: “Since I was 7, I’ve always said I want to be like a modern-day Alan Turing, and when I finish my studies, I’d like to go into Cyber Security in a place like GCHQ or MI5, that kind of thing.”

 Richard Wilkinson explains how the Cyber Lab works, and how it will make a difference to students;