Cyber Security

The UWS cybersecurity society is a developing cyber-oriented society with routine gatherings (meeting days may change from Thursday and could potentially be hosted virtually or in person, at either the Lanarkshire or Paisley campus, or at both with different members doing meeting at the campus most convenient to them).

Our goals are:

• To facilitate an environment where anyone with an interest in cybersecurity can learn about it. The society should serve as an information network to discuss cybersecurity ongoings (events, developments, etc.).
• To serve as an encouraging space for others who are pursuing a cybersecurity degree at UWS. Throughout our time here we have seen people on the "BEng(Hons) Cyber Security" programme stop attending lectures or quit altogether; by having this society we aim to foster a deeper sense of community (especially in the more fragmented Lanarkshire Cyber Security programme), as well as support members and offer encouragement for both our members and the cybersecurity student body.
• Promoting EDI, member wellbeing, and encouraging under-represented groups in cybersecurity to pursue this field.

Intended activities are:

• Reading, researching, writing reports and discussing the latest cybersecurity developments alongside talking about where to find these new trends. For example, subscribing to the TLDR InfoSec newsletter keeps members up to date about the ever-evolving Information Security discipline.
• Creating projects that utilise industry-standard tools like Wireshark and making our own tools, like a password-checking tool that evaluates the strength of a password based off its length, presence of upper-case & lower-case characters and special symbol(s) or numbers present.
• Walk through CTFs together to increase the knowledge of the group. For instance, when TryHackMe, HackTheBox or SANS host something like an advent CTF we all work through it and ask each other questions if needed. Experienced members can do walkthroughs for newer club members.
• Discussions of the real-world importance of cybersecurity and how the likes of things like the UWS cyber incident leads to real-world changes, such as the university implementing MFA that involves both a code (something you know) and biometric data (something you are), in addition to repeated authentication across platforms/services.

Activities that are or may be reliant on a higher member count:

• Guest lectures.
• Hackathons, potentially with other universities or entities. Maybe a friendly bout with the UWS programming club.
• Other collaborative events with external entities. Something like an industry workshop or a virtual workshop that runs for a few weeks.

Further revisions to activities, aims or objectives may happen once the club is further along its life cycle. Any suggested amendments should be relayed to the society's Chair (President and VP), please and thank you.

Socials:

Join us on Discord via this link: https://discord.com/invite/48HHzcnY