Chapter 1 — Starting at Northgate

Learning outcomes

You will (1) describe the technologist role in information security; (2) meet the running case; (3) plan practical learning over three years.

1.1 The student and the role

Jamal Haddad begins a three-year technologist programme in information security at the fictional Northgate College of Technology. His tutor is Ms. Fiona Grant, who worked for ten years as a systems administrator before teaching. She explains that technologists are the people who configure, check and maintain security controls every day: they set up accounts, apply updates, review logs and respond to alerts. The programme is practical, with laboratory work every week and a placement in the final year. Jamal enjoys practical problems.

1.2 The case organisation

Jamal's placement partner is the fictional Riverbend Leisure Trust, a charity running nine leisure centres with swimming pools, gyms and cafés. It employs about 350 staff and uses around 210 workstations, a membership and booking system, card payment tills and closed-circuit cameras. Members' personal details, payment data and health questionnaires for gym inductions all need protection. Ms. Grant notes that leisure organisations are often targeted because they hold payment data but have small IT teams. The IT team consists of an IT manager and one technician who travels between centres.

1.3 How the programme runs

The first year covers operating systems, networks, scripting, logs and core security concepts, ending with hardening, patching and vulnerability scanning. The second year covers accounts, authentication, secrets, firewalls, wireless, endpoints, email, backups, encryption and physical security. The third year covers monitoring, incident handling, suppliers, procedures, awareness, automation, documentation, the placement and an applied project. Jamal notes that each topic connects to something Riverbend's two-person IT team does every week. He copies the module list into the front of his notebook and marks each module with the Riverbend task he expects it to help with, so he can check later whether the link held.

1.4 Learning habits

Ms. Grant asks students to keep a laboratory notebook recording every command they run, what it did and what they learned. She explains that technologists must be able to repeat work exactly and explain it to others, especially after an incident. Jamal also sets up a small home laboratory using virtual machines, so he can practise without touching any real system. He notes that practising safely in a laboratory is the first professional habit the course teaches. Ms. Grant checks the notebooks every fortnight.

Worked example

Jamal starts the programme, meets Riverbend's nine centres and two-person IT team, maps the three years and starts a notebook and home laboratory.

Synthetic case. Northgate, Riverbend and all people are synthetic.

Errors and limits

Practising on real systems without permission is unsafe and may be illegal.

Exercises

• EX001 — Technologist work. What do technologists do daily?
  Show marking criteria

  Rubric: 3 = configure, check and maintain controls;; 2 = partly correct;; 1 = vague;; 0 = none.
• EX002 — Riverbend size. How many staff does Riverbend employ?
  Show marking criteria

  Rubric: 3 = about 350;; 2 = partly correct;; 1 = wrong;; 0 = none.
• EX003 — Notebook purpose. Why keep a laboratory notebook?
  Show marking criteria

  Rubric: 3 = to repeat and explain work;; 2 = partly correct;; 1 = vague;; 0 = none.