LAST week, efforts to improve education in the state received a huge boost when Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg announced the state government will increase its funding to Yayasan Sarawak from RM9 million to RM300 million a year.
Of that amount, about RM100 million will be for study loans and scholarships for young Sarawakians to equip them with the right skills and qualifications, particularly for the needs of digital economy.
One of the areas of study singled out by the Chief Minister – cybersecurity – will be of vital importance for Sarawak’s digital economy and thus eligible students would be offered scholarships for this new course.
Cybersecurity has been described as one of the essential core of the Digital Economy for Sarawak along with Big Data, and as such cybersecurity has to go hand-in-hand with Big Data.
That is why the Chief Minister has repeatedly said the knowledge and talent required to ensure tight cybersecurity in Sarawak would mean encouraging more efforts to develop cybersecurity as an industry in the state.
For those who are excited about being a part of Sarawak’s digital economy, this means there is a new area – cybersecurity – that you can explore, in terms of developing your knowledge and skills.
This is especially so because more and more institutions of higher learning have been urged to introduce new disciplines and courses such as cybersecurity, in line with the state government’s focus on developing Sarawak’s digital economy.
On this matter, the Chief Minister explained: “Higher learning institutions need to introduce new courses in line with our efforts to move towards the digital economy where we will also be preparing for the Industrial Revolution 4.0.”
In the past, a career in cybersecurity would have meant jobs in government agencies, but nowadays industries such as finance, healthcare and retail offer important positions for cybersecurity experts to protect their data.
Some of the positions available in cybersecurity include security analyst, security administrator, security software developer and security consultant.
There are also jobs in cybersecurity for cryptographers (who develop algorithms, ciphers and security systems to encrypt sensitive information), and cryptanalysts (who analyse and decrypt hidden information in cryptographic security systems).
Some reports have indicated that the demand for cybersecurity professionals is growing by the day and in some cases, especially in developed countries, they are able to command better pay compared to other jobs in the ICT sector.
This is a weekly column by SarawakYES!-an initiative driven by Faradale-M Sdn Bhd and supported by Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam) Sarawak-to provide advice and stories on the topics of education and careers to support Sarawakians seeking to achieve their dreams. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.