Burnley College IoT Equipment

Learners simulate cyber-attacks, monitor world events or recreate a small business environment in the Security Operations Centre at Burnley College.

Funded by IoT investment, it’s a centrepiece of the digital facilities at the college and was officially opened by Parliamentary Secretary Abena Oppong-Asare MP in 2024. 

The room is made up of 15 hi-spec PCs and the same number of hi-spec laptops, supported by one Linux server and one Microsoft Windows server, and two Cisco switches. 

It means students can set up a small business environment from scratch and simulate a variety of exercises and live tasks. 

“We’ve worked with employers to make sure we’ve invested in industry-standard equipment,” says Joshua Hyatt, Computing Lecturer at the college. “Cisco, for example, has an 80 per cent market share in networking equipment so it’s likely that our students will be using it in their future workplace.”

Typical exercises include splitting cyber-security classes down the middle, with one half of learners tasked with defending the infrastructure and the other half launching an attack. The isolated system protects the college network from being affected during live tasks. 

Active Directory, software used by a business to manage users of a network, is another IoT purchase, replicating an IT helpdesk. It allows computing learners to explore how to set up new users on a network, learn about password complexity requirements and carry out tasks like disabling access for users, for example when a staff member goes on maternity leave. 

The room also includes eight TV screens at the front of the classroom showing live threat maps as well as used for screen sharing so learners can go through their work with the rest of the group.

“All computing courses have access to the room but, from outside the computing curriculum, we can use it for tracking world events and studying the role of cyber-crime in world events,” says Joshua. “For example, the US elections see a significant rise in cyber-attacks and when sports events like the Euros are happening, the host country tends to see an increase.”

Employers have had input on courses taught in the SOC, including Burnley-based Seriun, a leading managed service provider of IT, telecoms and cyber security solutions, and software developer Juniper Networks. Staff are Cisco Academy, AWS Academy, Juniper Academy and Oracle Academy accredited, meaning they have the up-to-date skills to train learners in the software they’ll use in the workplace. 

“This room has been the springboard for improving our knowledge and what we can offer at Burnley College,” Joshua adds.