Student picked for space agency security training

Lewis Heap, 28, from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, will attend the Training and Learning Facility in Belgium

A student is just one of 29 people to have been picked for an advanced security training programme at a European Space Agency training facility.

Lewis Heap, 28, from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, will attend the Training and Learning Facility in Belgium for five days.

The programme is designed to train the next generation of cyber security professionals on how to deal with threats within the space sector.

Mr Heap, who is a University of Brighton student, said it would be a "major boost" to his career.

"Throughout my degree programme, I have gained useful experience with some of the technology to be used in this training.

"Their application within space is rather new to me, but that’s what makes the course so exciting.

"It’s such an interesting area of study and I cannot wait to get started."

The student was selected among hundreds of applicants by the space exploration institution.

Mr Heap, a former IT technician at West Suffolk Council currently studying for a degree in computer science and cyber security, said he believed cyber security had a "huge role to play in all aspects of our daily lives as technologies grow and progress".

"Having the opportunity to be involved in the field will always be exciting," he added.

The course will provide hands on experience in securing space communications systems and develop an understanding of overall cyber security monitoring and mitigation against threats.

Participants will work in groups throughout the course before making a final presentation at the end of the week.