Students are learning to ethically hack to prevent cyber security breaches in a nationally-recognised course taught from a classroom in Tuggeranong.
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The Canberra Institute of Technology enrolled its first students in Australia's first and only nationally-accredited Graduate Certificate in Networking and Cyber Security last year.
The unit on ethical hacking, in which students learn to scan, test, and hack to protect network systems from security threats, is only available to Australian citizens face-to-face.
CIT Technology and Design director Fiona Dace-Lynn said enrolments were "through the roof".
"We're really fortunate at CIT and it's something exclusive to CIT - the secure network we've got enables people to be able to log in and hack without compromising a larger network, but it exactly replicates what happens with a larger network," she said of ethical hacking.
"They need to understand how to understand how to hack into a network in order to build up the protection to prevent it."
A survey commissioned by Intel Security released last year found 88 per cent of Australian IT professionals reported a cyber security skills shortage.
The company's report said Australia's cyber security market was projected to grow to $1.6 billion in 2019
Higher Education Minister Meegan Fitzharris commended CIT on moving quickly to take advantage of the "huge demand" for IT workers.
"CIT has six specialist networking hardware labs and a purpose-built, dedicated IT network that together will create a virtual environment for students," Ms Fitzharris said.
"This is a great program for anyone wanting to get the skills needed to move into one of Australia's fastest growing industries."
The graduate certificate is open to people with IT qualifications or experience. CIT is also looking at expanding its offerings to provide cyber security courses to people who are not IT experts.
"For CIT it's going to be really useful because it's something that our hairdressing businesses, our plumbing businesses, every business we associate with at CIT is going to be able to benefit from that and they're going to need it," Ms Dace-Lynn said.
