{"id":1579305,"date":"2022-07-06T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-1016567-4521551.cloudwaysapps.com\/?post_type=station&p=1579305"},"modified":"2022-07-17T23:42:52","modified_gmt":"2022-07-18T03:42:52","slug":"rits-cybersecurity-bootcamp-prepares-professionals-from-all","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/plato-data\/rits-cybersecurity-bootcamp-prepares-professionals-from-all\/","title":{"rendered":"RIT\u2019s Cybersecurity Bootcamp prepares professionals from all…"},"content":{"rendered":"
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RIT\u2019s ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute\u2014a new on-campus facility that is making the university a top site for cybersecurity training, education, and research. Credit: Elizabeth Lamark<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/span>We have to think differently about who our cyber professionals are and where they come from. Hackers are diverse and come from different backgrounds, so if we\u2019re going to outsmart them, our cyber professionals should be investigative minds who come from diverse backgrounds, too.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

\n ROCHESTER, N.Y. (PRWEB)<\/span>
\n July 07, 2022<\/span>\n <\/p>\n

After five years working with the highway department and as a garbage truck driver, Garrett Morken wanted to trade in his bright yellow safety vest for something new. <\/p>\n

Like millions of Americans, the past couple of years have challenged Morken to re-evaluate his life. He didn\u2019t want to live paycheck to paycheck anymore. He was ready for a career change.<\/p>\n

In less than year, he was able to make that happen.<\/p>\n

After taking RIT\u2019s Cybersecurity Bootcamp<\/a>, Morken was trained and ready to start an entirely new career in cybersecurity. Today, as an operations consultant at Security Risk Advisors in Rochester, he\u2019s learning new things, he\u2019s saving money, and he\u2019s helping to fight cybercrime.<\/p>\n

\u201cSigning up for the bootcamp was probably one of the biggest turning points in my life,\u201d said Morken. \u201cI was tired of the physical labor and wanted to find a career instead of just a job. Now, I\u2019m with a company that wants me to grow as an employee and as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morken is one of about 100 people who completed RIT\u2019s Cybersecurity Bootcamp since it started in summer of 2020. Unlike a traditional degree program that can take years to complete, the bootcamp lasts 15 weeks\u2014or 30 weeks part-time. It\u2019s also offered completely online.<\/p>\n

RIT\u2019s bootcamp prepares professionals from all backgrounds and abilities\u2014including those who don\u2019t know code\u2014for critical entry-level cybersecurity jobs. Those jobs can start with an average annual salary of about $60,000.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s good news for the millions of Americans switching careers as part of what\u2019s been called the Great Resignation or the Great Reshuffle. It\u2019s also good news for every organization looking to hire more cybersecurity workers. This need comes at a time when cybercrime continues to grow, but there are 2.7 million unfilled cyber jobs globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd to help fill this job gap, we have to think differently about who our cyber professionals are and where they come from,\u201d said Viviane Stover, RIT\u2019s Cyber Range producer and business director, who administers the bootcamp. \u201cHackers are diverse and come from different backgrounds, so if we\u2019re going to outsmart them, our cyber professionals should be investigative minds who come from diverse backgrounds, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bootcamp is part of RIT\u2019s ESL Global Cybersecurity Institute<\/a>\u2014a new on-campus facility that is making the university a top site for cybersecurity training, education, and research. What makes RIT\u2019s bootcamp unique, compared to other cybersecurity crash courses, is its focus on hands-on learning, professional development, and building a community within each cohort.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was almost like a cybersecurity trade school, in that I didn\u2019t need prerequisites in English, math, or any coding experience,\u201d said Morken. \u201cYou literally go in on the first day and start learning skills for the job that you\u2019ll actually be doing in real world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning to do the job<\/p>\n

It was a seemingly normal email that first got Christopher Bruns interested in cybersecurity.<\/p>\n

After college, he was working as a golf professional at a country club in Florida, teaching lessons and running events. He opened an attachment in the email and his whole computer became encrypted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a ransomware attack and I got phished,\u201d said Bruns. \u201cIt was a hard lesson to learn, but ever since then I\u2019ve had a real interest in cybersecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruns continued to work at the country club until he was laid off in March 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic. He wasn\u2019t happy with his job and he wasn\u2019t making a lot of money, so instead of going back into golf he decided to follow his passion for cybersecurity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned about the bootcamp and how immersive it was going to be,\u201d said Bruns. \u201cI saw it as a $10,000 investment in myself, because I knew it would help me break into a new career.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the first day, bootcamp students are \u201chired\u201d by a company called Brick Wall Cyber. The company isn\u2019t real, but all the infrastructure behind it certainly is.<\/p>\n

Students work with large virtual networks of computers and must support security operations for 24 mock Rochester companies. Students get to work together, as they interact with role players who call-in and email to make each scenario more realistic. They discuss the latest news in the cybersecurity world and work on career preparation, including resume writing, interviewing, and networking.<\/p>\n

Throughout the program, students take on a series of different roles in the company\u2014 from fielding tickets on the IT helpdesk to investigating security vulnerabilities in the company\u2019s security operations center. In the end, students must help defend against a full-scale cyberattack.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bootcamp is based in reality and it gives students context and meaning behind what they\u2019re learning,\u201d said Rick Mislan \u201991 (professional and technical communications), a management information systems lecturer who helped design the bootcamp. \u201cApplied learning like this is going to win every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bootcamp\u2019s curriculum aligns with the National Institute of Standards and Technology-developed National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education framework for cybersecurity jobs. Participants learn skills in Windows\/Linux\/Unix security fundamentals, information systems auditing and compliance, and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools for detection and response, among others.<\/p>\n

After completing the bootcamp, Bruns went the next step to earn special certifications to build up his resume and apply for jobs. A few months later, he was hired as a cybersecurity program analyst at enterprise cybersecurity provider Sedara in downtown Buffalo, N.Y. He said that he now makes 50 percent more than he used to at his old golf job.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn two years, I\u2019ll be making enough to achieve my dream of being a member of a nice country club,\u201d said Bruns. \u201cI\u2019m also interested in learning more, so I can develop a new focus on offensive security and ethical hacking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dilip Singh, vice president of cyber operations at Sedara, has already hired two bootcamp graduates for entry-level positions at his company.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is absolutely a need for these employees in our industry right now and you can see it with the number of job openings that will sit vacant for months on end,\u201d said Singh. \u201cI\u2019m looking to hire people with practical knowledge who can come in ready to hit the ground running, which bootcamp grads can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

RIT has offered six bootcamp cohorts so far, including two taught with American Sign Language interpreters. The specialty cohorts aim to broaden participation of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in the cybersecurity workforce.<\/p>\n

Grace Yukawa \u201919 (mechanical engineering) took part in the first ASL cohort. After graduating from RIT\/NTID amidst the coronavirus pandemic, she had trouble interviewing and finding a job in her hometown of Seattle. When she learned about the bootcamp, she thought that cybersecurity could be a good career shift if she needed to work remotely.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really helpful to work in an all-deaf group that shared the same language,\u201d said Yukawa. \u201cWe learned how to set up firewalls in specific ports and all about command lines and access controls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yukawa was eventually offered a job in her field as a product engineer at the Seattle-based medical technology company Simulab. While she now designs simulators for the healthcare industry, she said that the cyber skills she learned are still useful and she will always have security on her mind for products she helps create.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, bootcamp organizers and employers see the program as a new talent pipeline that will help meet critical needs in the cybersecurity industry. Jobs that traditionally only go to those with four-year computing degrees can now be filled by professionals from more diverse backgrounds and populations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1579306,"template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","type":"","auto_type":false,"post":"","stream":"","stream_url":"","waveform_data":[],"duration":0,"start":0,"end":0,"bpm":0,"downloadable":false,"download_url":"","purchase_title":"","purchase_url":"","post-count-all":0,"like_count":0,"download_count":0,"editor_note":"","copyright":"","captions":[],"sources":[]},"genre":[10650],"station_tag":[3884,14557,15655,15679,15663,7027,6174,4897,15662,5133,15665,6535,5026,6464,9242,7457,14558,8453,15312,9642,14556,5367,15675,14555],"artist":[15685],"mood":[],"activity":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station\/1579305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/station"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1579306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1579305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=1579305"},{"taxonomy":"station_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station_tag?post=1579305"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=1579305"},{"taxonomy":"mood","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mood?post=1579305"},{"taxonomy":"activity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/activity?post=1579305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}