Cybersecurity: High School to College and University Settings

Cybersecurity is a guarantee benchmark for data and information transmission and

communication in global digital community. Collaborative cybersecurity curriculum from high

school to college is a stand-alone accelerated road map to mitigate every minute and everyday

cybersecurity threats. There is virtually zero unemployment among cybersecurity professions

and the global demand will soon outpace the supply of cybersecurity professionals at every level

in the next ten years. This is a merging and guarantee benchmark calling on college and

university settings that is a fertile domain and advocate of practical employment to reexamine

current academic curriculum to include collaborative cybersecurity education to guide and

protect the tactic of committing historic cyberattack against global community.

Education will never go out of business or expire. It is a promising landscape for a successful future point

toward resolving and mitigating cyber-threat and cyber-attacks on vulnerable innocent citizen.

Cyber-threats are immeasurable by nature and calls for “all-hands-on-deck” approach beginning

from high schools across colleges and university education. “All-hands-on-deck approach” is

needed in the battle of global cybersecurity threats as perpetrators are becoming progressively

sophisticated, but the collective global village has the resources and manpower to deploy in this

war to succeed. All it requires is good faith and collective endeavor and trust among high

schools’ educators, college and university professors.

Breach

The incident on September 5, 2019, at the College of Central Florida, (CCF), where a hacker

knew President James Henningsen was out of town according to Henry Glaspie, associate vice

president for information technology. The perpetrator sent an email to another vice president

posing as the president confirming that his credit card was stolen and needed someone to wire

money to him. I must admit that it was directly to student, but need to be educated on how to

physical, emotional, and psychological battle cyber-threats. Currently college and university

student are enrolled in Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), an educational program

which combines college electives in Military Science with practical and unmatched leadership.

High school, college and university set of courses must be reexamined course offerings to allow

students identical cybersecurity unmatched leadership in cybersecurity internship with the United

States Homeland Security and the United States Naval Department of cybersecurity.

Notification

The best security and protective measures against cyberthreat and cyberattack is to implement

professional alliance as an acceptable guideline for high school educators, college professors in

managing and delivery of instruction and in learning endeavors. Cybersecurity, like other academic disciplines, is a challenging, rigorous, and time-consuming program, requiring an

intellectual approach through partnerships and alliances with professional organizations.

Mitigation

The new generation from high schools to college and university levels is a credible instrument to

foster intrinsic motivation but requires precise length of time for training, understanding and

adjustment, therefore, high equal degree of dedication and commitment is required by students,

high school educators, college and university professors and parents. The education system is a

universal and promising center intended to develop solutions to eradicate cybers-attacks against

global innocent citizens.

The establishment of professional career advisory board (PCAB) is imminent. Projected

members of the PCAB must include, high school educators, college and university professors,

parents, U.S. Naval representative from Cybersecurity unit, parents, representative from

Homeland Security and elected student representative.

Questions

 Why should parents be active members of (PCAB)?

Parents are emotionally involved in their children educational pursuit and must be informed on

their children's educational goals and objectives leading to a much-needed career pathway.

 Why should high school educators, college and university professors be active members

of (PCAB)?

High school educators, college and university professors are emotionally and academically

attached to student learning endeavors and academic performance leading to a much-needed

career pathway.

 Why should Naval representative from Cybersecurity unit, and a representative from

Homeland security be active members of (PCAB)?

To provide life-long practical and unmatched leadership to students who are ambitious and

determined to embrace a career in cybersecurity profession.

 Why should a student representative be active member of (PCAB)?

Peer-to-peer network and communication has often been and will continue to remain a living

force leading to a much-needed career pathway.

Lesson Learned

The life-long conduit to battle the global scourge of cyber-threats is to heighten the

understanding, reinforcement of integrated course offerings, practical and unmatched

professional career education to eradicate cybers-attacks against vulnerable innocent citizens.

Most higher education administrators often ignore cyber-threats and fail into incorporate funding

for cyber-threats into organization annual budget. Cyber-threat is a global and credible imminent

danger requiring an intellectual approach through partnerships and alliances with high school

educators, colleges and universities professors, Naval representative from Cybersecurity unit,

parents and representative from Homeland Security.

About the Author - Dr. Joseph O. Esin is Professor of Computer Information Systems at Jarvis Christian College, Hawkins, Texas USA and Visiting Professor of Research University of Calabar, Nigeria