Research Magazine 2023

Cybersecurity Basic Concept and Cyber Career Pathways: KSU GenCyber School Camp 2022-2024

Miloslava Plachkinova

OVERVIEW

The National Security Agency (NSA) has awarded approximately $147,000 to the GenCyber program, a joint effort of faculty across Kennesaw State University departments. This two-year, hybrid school/camp is designed to increase high school students’ interest in cybersecurity careers. A total of 65 students in grades 9-12 were carefully selected, focusing on minority, female students from metropolitan Atlanta and its suburbs (Clayton, Cummins, Decatur, Dunwoody, East Cobb, Lawrenceville, Marietta) and counties north of Atlanta (Acworth, Canton, Cartersville, Kennesaw, Rome). Running from Spring 2022 to Spring 2024, the program teaches them the basic principles of cybersecurity to prepare them for further education and careers in the field. On-campus activities leverage a state-of- the-art cyber range and undergraduate-level learning resources in cybersecurity fundamentals, ethics, risk management, adversarial thinking, ethical hacking, computer network security, and secure app development. Pre- and post-camp activities include virtual lectures on cybersecurity careers as well as formative and summative assessments.

26 | Research Grant

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