Within the framework of the project “Development of Scientific and Methodological Educational Materials for the Information Security Specialty,” implemented by the Association of Cybersecurity Organizations of Azerbaijan (ACOA) with the support of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the first seminar took place at the Academy of the State Customs Committee (ASCCA) featuring a presentation of the newly developed educational materials.

The event was attended by Major General of the Customs Service and Head of ASCCA, Gulu Novruzov; Executive Director of ACOA, Rauf Jabarov; Project Manager, Tabriz Jafarov; as well as the authors of the educational materials — Professor Yadigar Imamverdiyev, ACOA expert Rashad Aliyev, and PhD in Technical Sciences, Head of the IT and Technical Sciences Department at ASCCA, Asif Ganbayev.

In his opening remarks, Major General Novruzov welcomed the participants and emphasized the critical importance of education in the field of cybersecurity. He noted that the Academy highly values such initiatives by ACOA and remains ready to support them. He also stressed the necessity of organizing a dedicated conference in the future to further discuss educational issues related to the cybersecurity specialty.

In his speech, ACOA’s Executive Director Rauf Jabarov expressed his gratitude to the ASCCA leadership and provided an overview of the project. He highlighted that, alongside its broader initiatives in cybersecurity, ACOA is also implementing education-focused projects driven by public demand. He reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to further expanding and developing the educational and methodological foundation for the Information Security specialty. Jabarov also introduced the ongoing development of a “Cyber Club” project for students specializing in this field.

Following this, Tabriz Jafarov, Head of Research and Development at ACOA, announced that sample syllabi and lecture collections had been prepared for three courses under the project. He noted that the presentation of these materials will also be held at five additional higher education institutions in the near future.

Subsequently, the authors of the materials conducted their presentations and training sessions.

As part of the project, syllabi and methodological lecture materials were developed for three core courses within the Information Security specialty:

• Fundamentals of Cryptography — prepared by Professor Yadigar Imamverdiyev, Head of the Cybersecurity Department at the Azerbaijan Technical University;
• Security of Electronics and IoT Devices — prepared by PhD in Technical Sciences, Asif Ganbayev, Head of the Department of Information Technologies and Technical Sciences at the ASCCA;
• Social Engineering — prepared by Colonel Orkhan Mammadov, Head of the Department of Operational-Search Activity at the Police Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

It is worth noting that this project was selected as a winner of the 2024 “Promotion of Voluntary Activity in Education” grant competition organized by the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan.