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News
PRISM, an information security course
Kutty Nair |
MIEL e-Security is an information security consulting and
services company in India. Information security training programmes have been
a key component of MIEL’s services; these are carried out by its Information
Security Training Division (ISTD).
Over the past six years, MIEL has trained over 3,500 professionals
spanning 300 organisations. Recently the company has introduced PRISM (Programme
in Information Security Management), a copyrighted one-year full time post-graduate
diploma programme in information security management. The purpose of this course
is to bridge the demand-supply gap of information security professionals.
Kutty Nair, Chairman and Managing Director, MIEL e-Security
says, “There are lots of threats coming up and hence there is demand for
security professionals. Information security is not about IT security, it’s
about people, process and technology. PRISM embraces all aspects of information
security.”
PRISM came in existence towards the end of 2006 and its first
program began in January with two academic partners, K. J. Somaiya Institute
of Management Studies and Research (SIMSR) in Mumbai and International School
of Corporate Management (ISCOM) in Pune. Presently there are about 40 students
in Mumbai and 20 in Pune with two full time trainers in each college along with
the support of MIEL’s e-Security staff.
According to Nair the trainers are professionals and they
have designed the course. He adds, “The contents are dense, as the students
will be groomed as information security professionals in a short duration of
about a year.” He believes that students will be able to demonstrate knowledge
of concepts relating to information security management after undergoing this
course.
The course consists of four trimesters with six topics per
trimester. Each topic has 20 to 40 sessions related to it. Each session is of
75 to 90 minutes. Students have to attend four sessions, five days a week.
Some of the topics are Internet and Web security, application
security, UNIX and Linux security, Windows security, business continuity and
disaster recovery, security models as well as enterprise security architecture.
The course also consists of lab assignments, case studies, security snippets,
exploratory surveys, applied research, projects and role plays.
PRISM costs around one and a half to two lakhs but it will
vary depending upon the region and college.
Nair says, “We are planning to expand this course across
India and abroad and we are also planning to have a part time programme to attract
the working professional who cannot attend the full time course.”
MIEL designs and delivered public certification seminars
and in-house training programs. Its partnerships in this area are with international
institutions such as ISC2 for Certified Information Systems Security Professional
(CISSP), ISC2 for Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP), EC Council
for Certified Ethical Hacking (CEH), SANS Trainings, DNV and other certification
bodies (for ISO 27001, Lead Auditor, Internal Auditor), and outsourced knowledge
processing work.
—Vinita Gupta
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