Oyena Mahlasela, CSIR

Call them micro-credentials, nanodegrees or digital badges, but these short units of study are an important part of continued education in the workplace. Instead of committing to multiyear degrees, micro-credentials offer a bite-size approach to professional skills development. But what happens when micro-credentials aren’t actually accredited? And where do deepfakes fit in? This is something that Oyena Mahlasela, a PhD student at the University of Pretoria and cybersecurity researcher at CSIR, is trying to figure out.

She says many businesses create security training and awareness programmes as an afterthought.