14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that there are far too few spies in the United Kingdom, so the GCHQ has taken it upon itself to make sure new people have a place where to learn the basics and that they know which ones are the best picks.
The GCHQ has recently accredited six Master’s degree courses at several British universities, saying that they meet their criteria for providing a foundation in cybersecurity.
“The six successful Master’s degrees were judged to provide well-defined and appropriate content, delivered to the highest standard. The development of GCHQ-certified Master’s degrees will help the successful universities to promote the quality of their courses and assist prospective students to make better informed choices when looking for a highly valued qualification. It will also assist employers to differentiate between candidates when employing Cyber Security staff,” reads the GCHQ’s announcement.
The universities that received an accreditation for their cybersecurity degrees are the Edinburgh Napier University (MSc in Advanced Security and Digital Forensics), Lancaster University (MSc in Cyber Security), University of Oxford (MSc in Software and Systems Security) and the Royal Holloway, and University of London (MSc in Information Security). Provisional certified status was offered to the Cranfield University (MSc in Cyber Defence and Information Assurance) and to the University of Surrey (MSc in Information Security).
“Every time I visit GCHQ I see first-hand their tremendous work on Cyber Security. Cyber Security is a crucial part of this government's long term plan for the British economy. We want to make the UK one of the safest places in the world to do business online. Through the excellent work of GCHQ, in partnership with other government departments, the private sector and academia, we are able to counter threats and ensure together we are stronger and more aware,” said Francis Maude, minister for the Cabinet Office.
A further call for universities to submit courses for Master’s certification will take place later this year and it will be extended to degrees focused on critical areas of information security, such as digital forensics, the GCHQ said.
The GCHQ’s activities have been put on the spotlight in recent months, thanks to the exposure coming from the leaked NSA files from Edward Snowden.
Not only has the GCHQ been heavily criticized by the public, but the intelligence agency is also under investigation by British authorities, who seek to find out whether the agency respects or bends the laws to help the NSA by spying on the world’s Internet users.