How UTS alumnus Mohit achieved cybersecurity career success in Sydney

He applied to study a Master of Information Technology in Cybersecurity at UTS. Upon his admission, Mohit was awarded the Engineering and IT Academic Excellence International Scholarship – a postgraduate scholarship specifically for high achieving international students. In 2022, he made the Dean’s List.

“The UTS Admission team recognised my outstanding academic performance from my Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Forensics Science from Amity University. I received a 25% scholarship in the form of discount on my total fee and it was truly a big help to me and my family.”

During his time at UTS, Mohit had many professional development opportunities to prepare him for his future career in cybersecurity. Mohit joined the UTS Cybersecurity Society where he participated in events like Hackathons and Capture the Flag (CTF). These simulations allowed him to practise techniques learnt from class and also develop practical skills that were not covered in the curriculum.

“Participating in Hackathons and Capture the Flags was one of the best extracurricular activities I have done ever. These activities have helped me a lot in my career. For an international student the job market is highly competitive. Even if it’s a graduate job in cybersecurity, the employer still expects a fresh graduate to possess some industry-grade technical skills or some prior experience.

“In an interview for my first job with ThreatDefence, the interviewer asked me for some skills like Active Directory, PowerShell remoting, Security monitoring, using Nmap, Burp Suite, beginner level Pen Testing skills etc. Fortunately, I honed some of these skills through hackathons, CTFs and learning on my own.”

Mohit credits the UTS curriculum and electives with preparing him well for his career as a cybersecurity professional. 

“UTS has helped me to develop not only technical skills related to cybersecurity but it has also helped me to grow in other areas like management and leadership. The variety of electives and subjects offered flexibility to me as a student to navigate towards my career goals. I wanted to grow as a cybersecurity professional and develop a range of technical skills, so I opted for the most technical electives and ended up creating a strong skill set. 

“Soon after finishing the final semester exams from UTS, I decided to go for the extra mile and opted for the CompTIA Security+ certification exam. The electives studied at UTS strengthened my cybersecurity concepts so much that with perseverance, hard work and consistency, I cracked the exam in the first attempt and it was a great achievement for me. I got the interview from ThreatDefence and the director was impressed by the skill set I possess as a fresh graduate. This way I landed my first full-time graduate job as a security professional.”

After working with ThreatDefence, Mohit sought a role with more digital forensics related work. Shortly thereafter, he was offered his dream job as a consultant for Cyber Incident Response at KPMG Australia. His responsibilities include tackling cyber incidents for clients, malware analysis, conducting digital forensics investigations, dark web monitoring, cyber threat hunting, and performing cyber threat intelligence.