University and Industry Collaboration Strengthens Youth Cyber Competence

Universitas Pembangunan Jaya (UPJ) is collaborating with various industry partners to strengthen the cybersecurity competence of the younger generation through the Cybersecurity for All (CS4ALL) programme. The initiative is aimed at university students, vocational high school (SMK) students, educational communities, and the general public to improve readiness in facing increasingly complex digital threats. The programme, which is part of the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education Project, features a series of workshops combining theoretical learning, laboratory practice, and direct experience from cybersecurity industry players. Head of the Informatics Study Programme at UPJ and CS4ALL UPJ Team Leader, Ida Nurhaida, stated that cybersecurity is no longer a competency needed only by technical circles but is an important skill that the younger generation must understand early on. According to her, the programme’s success is measured not only by the number of participants involved but also by the increased understanding and ability of participants to recognise various risks in the digital space. “For us, the success of CS4ALL is not only seen from the number of attendees but from the extent to which participants gain relevant learning experiences, experience increased understanding, and begin to see cybersecurity as an important competency in the digital era,” she said. Ida explained that the series of training sessions is designed in stages, starting from introducing basic digital security concepts, understanding cyber threats, practicing security monitoring, to introducing the Security Operations Center (SOC) and handling cyber incidents. The programme involves several universities, including Universitas Pembangunan Jaya, IPB University, and Swiss German University. Collaboration is also carried out with industry partners such as MANTA, Xellar, CoinEx, and BlockDevId. Through this collaboration, participants not only gain theoretical understanding but also get an overview of the implementation of cybersecurity in the industry, including securing digital systems, monitoring threats, and responding to security incidents. The workshop series raised five main themes: blockchain and secure digital systems, cybersecurity awareness, understanding the digital threat landscape, practice of threat monitoring using honeypots, and introduction to Security Operations Center and incident response. Programme evaluation results showed an increase in participants’ understanding across all training sessions. In the blockchain security workshop, the average participant score increased from 52 percent to 74 percent. Meanwhile, in the cybersecurity awareness session for vocational students, scores increased from 50.6 percent to 74.2 percent. Similar improvements were also seen in the threat landscape and honeypot fundamentals training, which increased from 54.8 percent to 76.5 percent. The honeypot deployment practice session increased from 56.2 percent to 78.4 percent, while the Security Operations Center and incident response training recorded the highest increase from 57.4 percent to 80.6 percent. According to Ida, through the programme participants began to understand various common forms of digital threats, such as phishing, malware, data theft, and the basic processes of monitoring and handling security incidents. She added that strengthening cybersecurity literacy is an urgent need amidst the increasing use of digital technology in various sectors. Therefore, the campus continues to strengthen the practice-based learning ecosystem through cybersecurity laboratories, industry collaboration, and international programmes. Going forward, the results of the CS4ALL programme will be developed into advanced training, micro-credentials, competency certification, and various capacity-building activities for students, pupils, teachers, and communities. “Through CS4ALL, we affirm our commitment to help build Indonesian digital talent that is not only technology literate but also ready to face future cybersecurity challenges,” said Ida.