Supercyber Program

Cybersecurity is indispensable, though not accessible; it’s an industry that predicts a capacity shortfall of 30,000 workers and recognizes a capability shortfall stemming from a lack of diversity, specifically gender diversity. The underrepresentation of women in IT can be traced to high school, with 22 - 25% of Australian enrolments in year-12 IT subjects being female. This is reflected in data from schools served by the Monash Tech School; looking back further, we find women selecting out of IT subjects at 14-15 years of age. Supercyber speaks to the challenge of job shortages in cybersecurity by prioritising access to the sector.

Supercyber responds to the challenge with a whole-day program that prioritises skills including strategic problem-solving, coordination, and communication. Supercyber positions students as cybersecurity decision-makers, from individuals personally affected to architects implementing measures to enable businesses to prosper to inter-organisational decision-makers who influence critical infrastructure projects. For a year-long journey, our design team immersed themselves in the world of cybersecurity. The problem was interrogated for 6 months through paper prototypes and pitch sessions before refining activities, developing enabling technology, and testing with students. Since delivery began, the program has seen continual improvements.

Positioned to impact students at 14-15 years old, Supercyber impacts people on the fork in their education journey. This is where students typically begin electing subjects to study. Of this audience, in 2023 alone, the program reached 855 students and will have reached 2,495 by the end of 2024. 85% learned something new, and an additional 29.67% are now more likely to pursue STEM in tertiary studies. Supercyber has impacted the education of cybersecurity by springboarding a partnership with RMIT to design and deliver a female-specific cybersecurity program.

The Monash Tech School recognises design as necessary, but not sufficient. As we ‘worked the problem’, the team of technologists, teachers, and designers was augmented with external subject matter expertise. This came in the form of attending multiple cybersecurity conferences, seeking guidance from industry experts including the Australian arm of Women in Cyber Security (WiCyS), and consulting puzzle designers. An additional outcome of a diverse team is an intrinsic avoidance of the historically monocultural nature of cybersecurity discourse. Supercyber being developed, delivered, and continuously improved upon by those outside the cybersecurity industry necessarily disseminates cyber-literacy into the secondary education space where it’s positioned to have a long-term positive impact. This is particularly valuable in our secondary education ecosystem which is currently being stretched between the legacy of a content-heavy curriculum and an accelerating technology reality.