As part of Scottish Apprenticeship Week, Digit finds out how Leidos’ apprentices are growing into the next generation of cybersecurity experts.
Apprenticeships are one of the key cybersecurity tools Scottish businesses have at their disposal. With threats building up across 2020, such as ransomware and botnets, companies need to ensure they have well-trained staff standing between them and cybercriminals.
However, with a skills gap growing across numerous digital roles, finding and employing experts can be difficult. All organisations need to be proactive if they want to take cyber threats seriously and stay secure online.
Global IT and engineering company Leidos, which has a large base in Glasgow, is one of the companies taking on apprentices in Scotland in a variety of roles, including in its cybersecurity time.
As part of Scottish Apprenticeship Week and CyberScotland Week, Digit spoke with one of their apprentices, Michael O’Neill, about what he is learning at Leidos.
STANDING OUT
O’Neill joined Leidos two and a half years ago as part of a graduate apprenticeship straight from sixth year. With a firm routing in IT, he developed his skills through several independent initiatives, such as Cyber Discovery, a UK government programme designed to get school-aged people into cybersecurity.
He pointed to other tools that helped hone his skills, both during school and during his apprenticeship, such as Hack the Box and Immersive Labs. These provide challenges and scenarios to help users test and improve their cybersecurity skills.
By the time he graduated, O’Neill had several unconditional offers from leading universities. However, having heard about graduate apprenticeship schemes, he decided to follow that route instead.
“I liked the idea to learn while you earn,” he said. “What also got me into it was the fact that I was able to use industry-leading software tools like Splunk.”
The apprenticeship normally sees O’Neill working at Leidos four days a week, with one day a week dedicated to his education, whether it is attending classes, practicals or independent study.
“This year it’s slightly different,” he noted. “If Covid weren’t a thing, I would be going into Napier once a month and the other three weeks would be self-directed study using the university online portal called Middle where I can access lectures.”
DUTIES
At Leidos, O’Neill’s duties include deploying products for the company’s customers and performing security checks.
“As I’ve progressed with my apprenticeship, I’ve been given more responsibilities. When I was on the first year of my apprenticeship, I’d maybe be shadowing somebody on my team and taking notes.” Now, he is involved in some of the planning and execution of projects with a degree of supervision.
In addition to the obvious IT and computing skills, O’Neill said that one of the most important abilities he has developed is being able to communicate well. “Through my time at Leidos, I’ve had to demonstrate tools such as Splunk to some of our customers and be able to covey complex ideas in words that non-technical people will understand.”
On the technical side, he has learnt how to work in the Linux command line, deploy Splunk and perform intricate tasks with the software.
O’Neill has also learnt about some of the many cybersecurity threats out there and how to react to it. “When a vulnerability comes in, it’s about what it affects, who it affects, and how we can go about shutting that threat down and protecting our customers.”
As such, he does his best to stay abreast of all the evolving cyber threats in the ecosystem. Just as his skills and duties have evolved with the role, so too have the threats developed.
“I think there’s definitely been more threats throughout 2020 and into 2021 than there were from when I started in 2018 through 2019.”
With a year and a half still to go in his apprenticeship, O’Neill expects to receive additional responsibilities on his path to becoming a fulltime cybersecurity engineer.
GROWING
Overall, O’Neill had a highly positive opinion of his choice. “I think it’s possibly one of the best things I’ve ever done,” he said. “Being able to use what I’m learning in university and work, and vice versa, is just brilliant.
“For example, I had a module last year at Napier about scripting for cybersecurity and networks – a few weeks before I started it, we had a mini project going on at Leidos that used Python, which really helped a few weeks later. Everything seems to help each other out.”
Without it, he noted, he would probably have had to balance working a part-time job with full-time study, something that would probably not have been conducive towards developing skills.
“I think being in the workplace and having this job is pushing me to work harder,” he said. “I think it’s given me a huge incentive to try and better myself, to gain more knowledge and basically act like a big sponge with all the resources that I’ve got around me.”
On the company’s part, Leidos is equally happy with O’Neill’s performance and his contribution to the company’s cybersecurity team. Scotland Portfolio Director at Leidos Alec Harley said: “In recent years we’ve seen the rapid adoption of new technologies across government and industry to supercharge the Scottish economy. To ensure that we not only keep pace with this trend, but stay ahead of the curve, we need to recruit exceptional young talent, and apprenticeships have become a crucial part of this process.
“Great apprentices such as Michael question things, add a fresh perspective and brings creative ideas to the table that strengthen the service we deliver for our clients. It’s important to recognise that one size does not fit all and that offering non-traditional routes into the tech industry is a win-win for us, our clients, and the wider Scottish tech landscape.”
For those looking to follow the apprenticeship route, O’Neill said to remain vigilant for apprenticeship openings, as they can be very competitive. “Constantly check apprenticeships.scot – I checked that daily for about a year and a half.
“I went to Morgan Stanley about their apprenticeship programme, just to get a better idea what it was, so go to things like that because they’re invaluable when you’re trying to make a decision.”
Furthermore, utilising online tools to hone cybersecurity skills can also provide a major boost when applying.
“Things like Cyber Discovery, Hack the Box, and doing your own research outside of school or college is definitely one of the things that sets you apart when you’re trying to get an apprenticeship.”
This article was originally published by Michael Behr on Digit during Scottish Apprenticeship Week 2021.
