Renowned technologist Dr Suresh Ramasamy talks cyber security with UCSI students

KUALA LUMPUR: UCSI University’s School of Information Technology (IT) kicked off the new semester with a public seminar on cyber security conducted by renowned technologist Dr Suresh Ramasamy, former Head of Information and Cyber Security at Digi Telecommunications.

A regional guru in informational technology management and strategy, Dr Suresh has had over 19 years of working experience with major telecommunications and ISP organisations like Maxis, Motorola, Time Dotcom Berhad and Bell Labs.

His work in digital security and privacy subsequently caught the eye of the government, and he was selected to devise industry standards for information security management systems and to establish legal and regulatory frameworks with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. Today, he continues to contribute to the creation of ISO/IEC 27000 family of specifications for Malaysia.

“The whole world is coming online and so is crime,” said Dr Suresh, who took the audience through real life examples of security and privacy breaches. “It is critically important that organisations and individuals take the necessary precautions to prevent information theft.”

He also guided students through a rousing discussion on best cyber practices.

“I saw a lot of potential in these students,” he said after the seminar. “The cyber security industry is booming – the World Economic Forum recently projected that the industry is worth at least USD50 billion in Asia Pacific itself – and demand for talent is huge. If they have the passion for it, I’d strongly encourage them to pursue a career in this field.”

This is the first in a new series of talks organised to provide students with the opportunity to gain first-hand insights and network with both academics and industry professionals.

“Exposure to real life industries is important for students to relate their theoretical knowledge to the practical aspects of their study, and UCSI has been rigorous in that respect,” said Assistant Professor Dr Tan Chun Wei, Head of UCSI’s School of IT. “Dr Suresh is very established in his field and our students stand to gain much from his experience.”

This will not be Dr Suresh’s last visit to UCSI. He was recently appointed as a member of the university’s Industry Advisory Board and will be working cooperatively with UCSI’s Faculty of Business and Information Science – under which the School of IT is parked – to ensure all study programmes are aligned to deliver industry and professional competency requirements.

The next public seminar will be held on 29 September and will feature Dr Joseph Manning from the Department of Computer Science in University College Cork, Ireland. In a talk titled ‘What Computers Can Never Do,’ Dr Manning will speak on tangible problems which rank amongst the most fundamental in the field of computer science that computers will never be able to solve.

For more information, please contact Asst Prof Tan at [email protected].