News

Concordia University of Edmonton offers cybersecurity course to Indigenous community members free of charge in celebration of Cybersecurity Awareness Month

EDMONTON, Alberta — Concordia University of Edmonton (CUE) is committed to engaging in respectful, responsible, relevant, and reciprocal relationships with Indigenous people and communities. As part of this commitment and the university’s partnership with Indigenous Works, CUE is proud to offer its Fundamentals of Cybersecurity course to Indigenous peoples and communities free of charge in celebration of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

“We are excited to offer this course to Indigenous peoples and communities across our city, province, and country,” said Dr. Xinxin Fang, Director of CUE’s Office of Extension and Culture. “We are living in a digital world. The skills and knowledge obtained through this course align with the desired outcomes of our partnership with Indigenous Works, and will give students a strong understanding of the cybersecurity and information technology landscape.”

CUE is a Charter Partner of Luminary—a six-year initiative to design and implement an Indigenous innovation strategy and plan leading to economic transformation and wellbeing—through Indigenous Works. As a Charter Partner, CUE is responsible for creating opportunities to engage Indigenous peoples and communities, and making recommendations on how to create collective impact.

“We are only beginning our journey towards building our capacity and knowledge of Indigenous peoples and perspectives, and have been working to engage and support our Indigenous students and surrounding Indigenous Nations,” said Danielle Powder, Manager of CUE’s Indigenous Knowledge and Research Centre. “After many conversations, we identified information technology as an institutional strength and an area that may need more representation, ownership, and control by Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples have always been innovators and we are excited to see what the interest is like for this initiative.”

Fundamentals of Cybersecurity is an introductory course thoughtfully designed by CUE’s Master of Information Systems Security Management team. It gives students a foundational look at the complex cybersecurity landscape and the emerging field of information technology systems security and assurance. This course will provide students with the tools to evaluate online risks and security protocols in information processing systems. It takes 20 hours to complete and will be available until December 15th, 2020. Participants will have 30 days to complete the course upon registration.

Interested Indigenous partners and community members must complete a request form to receive a unique promotional code that will waive course fees. Questions relating to the course or promotion can be directed to extension@concordia.ab.ca.

See here for more information about the course being offered.

Links:
Office of Extension and Culture
Indigenous Knowledge and Research Centre
Indigenous Works
Luminary Initiative