Cisco AICTE Virtual Internship Program 2022
This summer, I had the opportunity to be a part of the incredible Cisco AICTE Virtual Internship program 2022.
I am a 4th year Undergraduate student from Bennett University studying Engineering in Computer Science. Ever since the day I started using social media (in the era of Facebook fake accounts and online pranks) and understanding how the internet worked, I knew I was curious about cybersecurity in some capacity. I had this question lingering in the back of my mind about how safe it was to share so much personal information online among others. Once I was old enough, I realized I could seek the answers to all such questions through cybersecurity and research.
All through college, I explored various topics like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to name a few, but never got the chance to dabble in cybersecurity before this internship. For a little more context on how this internship works, let me first give a brief introduction about the same and its organizers.
Cisco, AICTE, and NASSCOM FutureSkills PRIME have started the initiative of the intern program to offer virtual internships in networking, programming, and cyber security through Cisco Networking Academy and its partners as part of an ongoing effort to make skilling a national priority and turn India into a hub for digital talent. This innovative partnership between organizations and government will create a talent pool for the sector’s IT jobs. In collaboration with Cisco, AICTE, and NASSCOM, the program is administered as a part of the digital skilling initiative.
The program is open to students from Cisco Networking Academy institutions enrolled in first, second-, and third-year engineering or technical degree courses. For more details, check AICTE Internship Enterprise Portal — Learning by doing. 1 Crore Internships by 2025 (aicte-india.org)
Now, for a more personalized perspective, let me put in the picture how we went about our training and what the final project was. Three courses were introduced to us on the first day of the internship, all offered by Cisco, namely:
Introduction to packet tracer
The Introduction to Cisco Packet Tracer course is meant for people who are new to networking. With several hands-on activities, it explains the tool’s fundamental uses while assisting students in visualising networks using real-world examples, such as the Internet of Things.
We were taught how to build our own models or virtual networks, get access to key graphical representations of those networks, animate those networks by adding our own data packets, ask questions about those networks, and finally annotate and save their creations through a combination of hands-on labs and interactive lectures.
Introduction to Cybersecurity
Because of how linked the globe is now, everyone is increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks.
This certification investigates online trends, threats, attack, and vulnerabilities. For instance, we gained more knowledge about the difficulties organizations, governmental agencies, and educational institutions face today while learning how to preserve our personal privacy online. This course has got you covered in both your professional and personal life as it educated you in the basics of the bottomless ocean that is the internet.
Cybersecurity Essentials
We know that a single breach may have severe repercussions for an organization, harming the bottom line and interfering with millions of people’s everyday lives. Because of this, there is an increasing need for security personnel. This course covers everything you need to know about the techniques, tools, and philosophies used to protect networks from cybercrime.
This certification can be seen as a steppingstone towards a clearer and broader picture about how big of an impact internet and cybersecurity have on our everyday lives.
We had regularly scheduled sessions where we were trained on the certification courses and were required to take a final examination administered by Cisco Networking Academy.
Each student was given a project to do after finishing the training and coursework to show off the abilities they had gained through the internship. I was required to design a network of my university campus where every system was connected locally.
The successful completion of this project marked the end of the 2-month long Cisco AICTE Virtual Internship Program 2022.
I’d like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Bennett University for this opportunity, my mentors, and Mr. Sushit Soni for his unwavering guidance during the internship.
