Academic, industrial ties

With the rapid development of online and other digital platforms, cybersecurity has been attracting more attention at major colleges in recent years, but a severe skills shortage remains.

Statistics released during the 2018 China Cybersecurity Week, held by the Cyberspace Administration of China in September, showed the country currently lacks more than 700,000 much-needed cybersecurity professionals. That number is expected to reach 1.4 million by 2020.

To cater to the increasing demand from cybersecurity-related industries and bridge the widening gap, the country has stepped up efforts to cultivate more specialist personnel, unveiling plans to build four to six world-class cybersecurity colleges by 2027.

The Cybersecurity Administration of China has placed the issue higher on its agenda, encouraging security and internet companies to increase and expand cooperation initiatives with education institutions.

In response to the policies, Qihoo 360 has established security laboratories and partnerships with numerous universities and institutions, including Peking University, Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The company has improved education accessibility by sharing more security resources and designing textbooks, as well as helping to improve universities' curricula.

Alibaba has also identified education as a development priority. It has set up eight labs to each focus on different online security problems.

"We will improve students' education by increasing security projects and cooperation with academies at home and abroad," Hang said, adding this also allows cybersecurity engineers in the company and students to exchange ideas and information.

Helping the public to understand what cybersecurity is and what related jobs involve is also important, according to Ele7enxxh, from Qihoo 360's Chengdu Security Response Center.

The 27-year-old posted a blog on a digital forum in October inviting questions about cybersecurity. Within two hours, the blog had attracted over 800,000 views and more than 1,500 comments.

"Such communication is necessary, as individuals are the least secure aspect in cybersecurity," he said. "The more you learn about this area, the less likely you are to be misled or deceived."