The University of Leicester are the latest organisation to join the EMCRC as a Friend of the Centre in a bid to help their students not only with their own cyber resilience but by enrolling on the national Cyber PATH programme.

The EMCRC approached the University of Leicester to work with us and become a Friend of the Centre so that students could benefit from our joint working practices.

Friends of the Centre are organsiations who want to help their members, in this case students, to build their cyber resilience. But also in this case, the university sees the affiliation as a way to onboard their students to the national Cyber PATH programme, which allows students to work with us to deliver our affordable cyber security services to businesses.

Cyber PATH is an elite talent pipeline for the next generation of specialists in cyber resilience; it's an excellent way for students to engage in the commercial aspects of the sector and gain vital experience whilst helping SMEs with their cyber resilience, and it’s a great avenue for us to use as it gives us access to students who will go on to deliver our affordable cyber security services.

Developed by the National Cyber Resilience Centre Group (NCRCG) in partnership with the regional Cyber Resilience Centre (CRC) network, of which the EMCRC is a part of, Cyber PATH is a programme open to students in full-time higher education who want to help shore up the nation’s defences against cybercrime and gain vital experience in a commercial setting.

The programme gives young people the opportunity to work alongside senior Security Practitioners to deliver affordable and high-quality cyber resilience services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across each region in England and Wales.

As well as making cyber operations safer and more secure in smaller organisations, students are equipped with the essential skills, knowledge and on-the-job training they need to succeed in the workplace upon graduation.

Cybercrime is fluid and requires us to constantly refresh our thinking which is why Cyber PATH embraces diversity of thought in its cadre of students. The programme welcomes the brightest young students with the necessary learning, skillsets and intellectual ability best suited to addressing this changing landscape of crime.

You can find out more on the Cyber PATH programme here.

The University of Leicester have already agreed to:

• Post our Cyber Path recruitment webinar on their portal and advertise this to 1st year and 2nd year and PhD students.
• Post our Cyber PATH opportunity on the same portal within the application window from 1 Oct to 15 Nov.

The recruitment webinar will be hosted online on October 18, and is a chance for students to get a better understanding of what the programme entails and what they can expect if they were to join.

Essentially, once trained, students go on to work for Cyber PATH and help deliver our services to SMEs whilst studying. They are also paid for their work, which comes in very handy!

The recruitment drive began on October 1 and runs until November 15, 2023.

For now, we’re glad to welcome The University of Leicester as a ‘Friend’, and we look forward to working with them.

Reporting

Report all Fraud and Cybercrime to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 or online. Forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk. Report SMS scams by forwarding the original message to 7726 (spells SPAM on the keypad).