Page Updated: 18-Oct-2006
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Training in Network Security for
Representatives of Silk Countries

Twelve Information & Communication Technology (ICT) instructors have been trained and passed the certification exam for a course on “Network Security” at the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University in Kyiv, Ukraine, from 15 to 25 May 2006. This training was carried out as part of a Networking Infrastructure Grant (NIG) project on “Upgrading NRENs Training Centres in Silk Countries to Teach Network Security Courses”. This NIG, supported by the NATO Programme for Security through Science (STS), is aimed at countries participating in the Virtual Silk Highway project.

Through the Silk, the STS Programme is providing - by satellite - access to the Internet for countries in the Caucasus ( Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia ) and Central Asia ( Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan ). In these countries, each national research and education network (NREN), i.e. the principal organisation for delivering global and local networking services to the academic community, is connected to the Silk.

Most of these NRENs run their own Network Training Centres offering the so-called Networking Academy Programme (developed by Cisco Systems, a co-sponsor of this training project), which is a comprehensive e-learning programme providing students with the Internet technology skills essential in a global economy. However, there is the need to provide further training in applications for network security, given the risk of attacks to which computers and data networks are exposed.

To this aim, Cisco Systems provided two instructors from the US for teaching at the training Kyiv. Nine instructors from four Silk countries ( Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan ) participated. Three instructors from Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University and Kharkov University in Ukraine also attended.

Training was the second stage of this NIG project. The first stage included the shipment of equipment donated by Cisco Systems for the extension of the existing training centres in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and the creation of new training facilities in these countries.

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