Hitting a Homerun in Cybersecurity Education
To teach it is one thing. To teach it well so that students comprehend is a whole different ballgame. Jacksonville State University took a creative step forward by collaborating with Snead State Community College to produce a new Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Security toolkit that helps educators provide an enhanced cybersecurity experience for their students.
Jacksonville State University took home the winning submission for faculty development in the 2018 National CyberWatch Center’s Innovations in Cybersecurity Education Award.
“It’s a culmination of five years of hard work.”, says Dr. Guillermo Francia, director of the Center for Information Security and Assurance and professor at Jacksonville State University. He’s hopeful this portable toolkit will help students absorb some of the more difficult topics in cybersecurity. “We hope this small contribution to the advancement of cybersecurity education and the enhancement of our nation’s critical infrastructure protection will stimulate the growth of professional development activities in this area of national need.”
Why do we feel this is game seven?
What makes the toolkit innovative is its focus on a total learning immersion experience, using problem-based learning techniques AND hands-on experiments. The best part? It’s affordable. For under $600, it can easily be connected to a laboratory network switch to transform a traditional network lab into an ICS Security lab! Plus, this toolkit is replicable at a national level.
Another day in paradise.
The toolkit is supplemented with freely available ICS Security curriculum modules covering topics such as ladder logic programming, Human Machine Interface (HMI) development, system reconnaissance, intrusion detection, firewall configuration, penetration testing, deep packet inspection, and vulnerability assessment.
Some wanted it to happen, some wished it would happen, and Jacksonville State University made it happen.
This innovation and others like it can be accessed through the National CyberWatch Center’s member portal HERE. Membership for academia is FREE, and other memberships are available HERE.
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