Tips from SSMS students on how to get a head start
By Maria Dragosin
20 November 2024
12 minutes
Introduction
What would be my future career after SSMS? How can I gain an advantage over all the other candidates for a job I really want? How can I be prepared for an ambitious career? What minors should I choose for my third year? These are all relevant questions that all SSMS students have had at least once. This article may help guide you toward three possible fields of work by condensing three interviews with current third-year students and the courses and paths they are taking toward their potential future. Even if you may not be interested in counterterrorism, cybersecurity, or open-source intelligence, their advice may guide you toward finding your interest by taking additional courses while studying SSMS.
The three interviews conducted with the third-year students Quinty, Yulian, and Alexi, portray the benefits of the three courses they each took separately and their experiences with these courses. These three courses are the Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Comparing Theory and Practice Course, taken by Quinty and provided by lecturers from Leiden University, the National Cyber Security Summer School (NCS3), taken by Yulian and Quinty and organized by dcypher at various Dutch ministries around The Hague and external site visits at large companies, and the Open-Source Intelligence Course (OSINT Course) taken by Alexi and provided by the Basel Institute on Governance. At the end of the article, you can find their advice on proving your motivation to future employers, finding a suitable course for yourself, and other recommended courses.
How can I take these courses?
Quinty discovered the Terrorism and Counterterrorism Course by searching Coursera, an online platform that provides learning materials and courses taught by professors and individuals active in the fields. This specific course provided by Edwin Bakker and Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn from Leiden University can be completed free of charge, but to receive the certificate, students must pay a €50 fee and complete a final quiz. The upside is that this certificate does not need to be renewed and that to undergo the course, you only need to create an account for Coursera.
On the website, the course covers a wide range of topics in an estimated 18 hours, but as Quinty put it, “This depends on yourself”. The lecturers divided the course into weekly classes, and they provided required or optional readings and video lectures, which you decide how to go through. For instance, Quinty preferred to schedule her time in the following way: “I read through what they’re going to cover during the course, and it sounded very, very interesting. I remember I signed up right away and went in with the first lecture […]. So, I would do the reading one day and the other day, I would watch the videos, but that’s entirely up to yourself. That way I ended the course sooner than the estimated time.” Even so, each person has their own pace and schedule, so the best advice she can provide is to carefully decide how you plan the study sessions during your week.
As for how our students discovered the NCS3 and the OSINT courses, Yulian and Alexi took a similar approach: using LinkedIn, Yulian discovered NCS3 through his LinkedIn network, which he cultivated over his SSMS years. Alexi looked at the LinkedIn profiles of police officers because he wished to do his internship at Interpol. Even with the different approaches, the results were similar. On the profiles of LinkedIn users, you can see their certifications and academic and professional backgrounds. The takeaway is to look at those people you know or those you want to work with and see what they did. This can help you understand if the path is right for you and how to approach it.
NCS3 is the only course out of the three that takes place in person. It is also the most thorough one. The first aspect that catches the eye of international students is that the spoken language throughout the summer course is Dutch. However, you do not need Dutch nationality or citizenship to enter. Other than this aspect, as Yulian put it, “the NCS3 is tailored for non-IT students who have a particular interest in the cyber-domain”, meaning that you do not need any IT or cybersecurity experience before joining the course. To enter, you only need a passion or interest for the subject, which you should describe in a one to two-page motivational letter and your updated CV. If you are starting to learn Dutch and are still interested in joining, you can submit those two in English. Regarding payment, Yulian said that “participation is completely free. However, costs for a no-show after admission are 100EUR”. But the benefits are that “all lectures, food and evening events are arranged and thus free from costs but note that travel costs have to be paid on your own accord”. What does the course look like? According to Yulian, “The NCS3 is a full week of guest lectures, workshops, external site visits, and networking activities. For students that are thinking about attending the summer school, it is wise to completely clear their schedule for this week full of learning opportunities.”
Moving to the last course, the free OSINT course provided by the Basel Institute of Governance is available on their website in multiple languages. According to Alexi, “You just need a Google Account” to sign up for it and there is “no need to send any specific documents”. It comprises ten modules, with case studies for each, which you have to try investigating through the institute’s tools. “It is an exciting experience, no boring PowerPoint presentations, only practical knowledge of applying OSINT techniques they teach you”. The first module introduces you to the concept of OSINT and a practice round with a few OSINT tools. The other modules provide the investigation experience on case studies such as maritime case. It took Alexi around 3 weeks to complete the course, with each module taking 10-30 minutes. Similarly to the Terrorism and Counterterrorism Course, your pace dictates how long the course will last. It is advised to take your time to understand the teachings, tools, and processes they provide to retain most of the knowledge.
What are experiences and highlights I can look forward to?
For context, Quinty took the Terrorism and Counterterrorism Course between her first and second year of SSMS, when the curriculum did not cover terrorism yet. She recommends this course for those “interested in international law, policy and maybe even journalism”. It is perfect for many SSMS students because “it covers a wide range of topics, and the overall experience was excellent” because the “pace was just entirely up to yourself”. Her highlight was that the course covered journalism, a topic she was not expecting to be included. In her own words, “It surprised me to see how media influences the perception of terrorism. For example, if the media heavily portrays terrorism in the news, then people tend to get more desensitized to it, but it could also harvest the culture of fear within them. The second topic I liked was the basic assumptions on terrorism. For example, the lecturers dedicated a whole lecture to five assumptions about terrorism. These assumptions were that terrorism is caused by poverty, is increasingly lethal, is predominantly anti-Western, is successful, and that terrorists are crazy. Each of these assumptions has its own individual lecture video where they discuss whether the assumption is true or not based on research and examples.” She proceeds by giving an example of the basic assumption that terrorists are crazy: ”People may assume most terrorists are crazy based on cases like the Unabomber, who sent bombs to universities. Because of our own moral outrage, we tend to label a terrorist as “crazy”, while research has shown that terrorists are rational actors, politically motivated.” So, for her it was interesting how “they covered the origin of each assumption and the importance of testing whether the assumption is true or not. They looked at these assumptions on a historical basis and at the end of the lecture, they labeled each assumption as (partly) true or (partly) false.” I, Maria, would like to add as someone who completed the SSMS Terrorism & Counterterrorism Minor, that if you are interested in such exercises and examples based on assumptions about terrorism, there will be a dedicated lecture in the minor.
For Yulian, the NCS3 “was an amazing experience, which can be seen as a game-changer!”. During this summer school, he attended various lectures by actors in the Dutch cybersecurity field. As he described his experience, the care put into the summer school and the motivation it gives to students is clear. “The guest lectures and workshops provided gave me a good insight into the topics, the jargon, but also the different actors at play within this field. I completed the National Cybersecurity Summer School by giving a presentation, which implemented all the ideas I had learned throughout this week. The goal of the presentation was to obtain funding for a self-created business start-up from hypothetical investors, simulated in a “Dragons Den” setting. My business start-up entailed a government-funded cybersecurity awareness program tailored to primary schools around the country, making children aware of the risks of the digital world starting from a young age. With the completion of my presentation, I obtained my certificate of attendance. This exciting week filled with interesting lectures, workshops, and site visits has gotten me very curious to learn more about cybersecurity!”.
When he attended the NCS3, the guest lecturers were representatives from FOX-IT, AIVD, and the Team High-Tech Crime from the Dutch police. These three presentations were also Yulian’s highlight of the course. Even if the guests to the summer school may change, Yulian said, “I have seen that the summer school has only grown in external partners and that the quality of the guest lectures given only followed this trend.” He hopes that if you wish to increase your interest in cybersecurity by following the NCS3 in the future, you will receive the same perspective on this subject.
From Quinty’s perspective of the NCS3, the course motivated her through fun activities such as getting introduced to coding, hacking, and ‘capture the flag’ exercises. Her guest lecture highlights were the military representative presenting Dutch military cyber operations and the police talk about ransomware negotiation, during which they described how to act during negotiations and how to formulate questions or even sentences during such important talks.
Lastly, the OSINT course motivated Alexi to follow the Intelligence Collection & Analysis (ICA) Minor. According to him, “The guidance increases your analysis capabilities, and it encourages you to think outside the box. Given that, in most cases, you have never thought about the process of investigating, this course provides you with the tools for the process and the necessary techniques such as how you can use a tool to triangulate a solution with another tool”. Another highlight for him was that the course covered operational security, known as OPSEC. This process identifies critical or sensitive information and prevents it from getting into the wrong hands, usually identified as enemy intelligence. This concept may apply to companies, agencies, or actors, who want to protect themselves against malicious actors and cyber threats. Currently, it is important to know how to safely navigate the online environment. A last highlight for him was “using command prompts on Google to narrow your search. For example, you can put the prompt “filetype:pdf” after the name of a book or study you are searching, which filters the search results to only pdf files.
When should I take these courses?
All three students recommend taking these additional courses as soon as possible, preferably during your first or second year at SSMS.
Quinty recommended that you take the Leiden Terrorism and Counterterrorism Course and the NCS3 before you get the chance to choose your minors for the third year because SSMS students will be able to choose from the SSMS minors Terrorism & Counterterrorism (TCT) and Cybercrime as well as the Law minor on cybersecurity which will cover the topics of the courses in more detail. Taking these courses before is the “perfect way to find out whether these are the subjects that truly interest you or if they are not a good fit for you”. Additionally, she proposes orienting yourself towards what best fits your schedule. “I did them in the summer between my first and second year because I had more free time, allowing me to manage my time better, and also because I did not want to balance them with the university classes, assignments, and activities”. You should do it before the minors also because “you can include these courses in your application for the minors. It shows that you are interested and that you are willing to do extracurricular activities.”
Similarly, Yulian recommends taking this course “during the summer break after your first and before your second year, but it also depends mostly on what type of person you are.” However, if you would like to wait for the summer vacation between your second and third year, Yulian recommends it as a “fun and challenging activity”.
Alexi regards the OSINT course as a more flexible course providing more choices of when to start it: “You can start it in your first year, the earlier the better. You could also do it in your second year because it can offer you an understanding of what the ICA Minor will be like. But also, do not be afraid to do it in your third year as well out of personal interest, especially if you could not enter the ICA Minor, or you simply chose another one”.
How can these courses help me in my professional future?
In Quinty’s case, she likes to focus on what extracurriculars she can do in her free time “because we all take the same study and we all have the same degree, but in the end, if you want to show that you have a certain motivation and ambition towards a field, you can do that by showing these certificates. They show that you went out of your way to delve into something else because it truly interests you, which says a lot about a person.” She pointed out that besides the usability of those certificates for third-year minor applications, they can be used for internship or job applications because they show potential future employers that are motivated and willing to learn. The NSC3 made the cybersecurity field more approachable to her, motivating her to take the Cybersecurity Minor provided by the law faculty at THUAS.
Yulian was always interested in the topic but what he suggests about the usability of the certification is that “if you’re thinking about a career in cybersecurity, a certification from the NCS3 is a great way to increase your worth in the industry.”. He accounts that “the experience alone is already worth the effort for sure!” and that this certification is a token of recognition within the field since “everyone within the industry is familiar with this summer school”.
Regarding the OSINT Course, Alexi underlines the benefit of showing proof for your initiative. “Everybody does something. We are all preoccupied with our hobbies, work, and studying. But if you make the effort to put the time out of your day to do an online course, it also shows companies that you take care of your development, that you care about enhancing your skills, and that you are good for the company because you are showing dedication by putting extra time into work where others would not.” For OSINT specifically, it is a versatile field, “so it does not matter if you are working in a business or cybersecurity. It is a revolutionary bandwagon that everyone should jump on so that you are more protected. Maybe not directly by reducing the likelihood of you getting hacked but by increasing your digital awareness”. In his future, he wishes to help the French army with its OSINT capabilities because of their need to analyze the current geopolitical landscape where “war is moving more towards the digital realm.” OSINT is valuable for such a shift because of the benefits it offers in terms of resource deployment since states or actors “do not need to deploy manpower, drones, or armaments necessarily since through OSINT you can understand your enemy’s capabilities to defend yourself”.
Tips for students
Quinty’s tips are to pick a topic to delve into and if you need inspiration, to look at the courses that you are taking within SSMS. For instance, “If Psychology & Crime seems very interesting then you can delve into them.” How? You search for criminology courses because “the internet is so full of courses that there is 100% one that suits you and your interests”.
Yulian suggests to develop your LinkedIn network. Indeed, in the first SSMS year, students are introduced to creating a LinkedIn account during the Professional Skills Course, but that is not enough. It is essential to cultivate your account into a network that can help you professionally, so make sure to update your LinkedIn actively.
Alexi recommends not being afraid to experiment with courses on fields or topics you might not be initially interested in because you can always educate yourself such as in cybersecurity. If you are not a big tech person, maybe you can find a course that will make it more approachable.
What other courses can I take?
There are many other courses SSMS students can take. For physical courses, Yulian recommends the “Inside Man” crisis simulation exercise organized by Scope Training and offered by SSMS. During this crisis simulation exercise, students experience real-life crisis scenarios in play and how actors such as DSI and other emergency service responders cooperate and tackle such crises. Alexi also joined different mini-internships and simulations offered during the POP weeks by Centuria and the SSMS program. But if you want more diversity, he suggests orientating towards online courses because most are free and offer the best flexibility. For online courses, here is a list of some of the best websites you can use:
• https://learn.baselgovernance.org/
• https://www.futurelearn.com/
Conclusion
There are many courses where SSMS students can educate themselves further, either offered by SSMS, THUAS, external partners, or external actors. Look at those options you know you are interested in or those beyond your comfort zone to gain knowledge or to show your motivation to understand what you can do in your professional future. Remember, it is never too late to learn something new or expand your knowledge on a topic you are already at home with. All that matters is to take initiative.
This article contains links to third-party websites, which have only been placed for the convenience of the reader and does not imply endorsement of contents of said third-party websites.
Home | Centuria Study Association 
Leave a comment