A free cybersecurity training program pragmatically designed to train high school students and working-class individuals by bringing together the University of South Florida (USF), school districts with high needs, and prospective employees in the field.
Pick the right program tailored to your pace
In the current, inter-connected digital landscape, cyberattacks can be launched against major industries in both public entities and private businesses, critical infrastructures, internet-enabled devices or IoTs by ordinary people, and subsequently damage the economy and threaten national security. To combat these challenges, organizations across the nation need a cybersecurity-informed workforce with up-to-date and state-of-the-art cyber defense strategies. Although cybersecurity is of utmost importance regardless of the business type, as per the Cyber Florida annual report (2020-2021), our nation faces a critical shortage of cybersecurity talent - "this shortage leaves individuals, businesses, government offices, and critical infrastructure such as utilities and ports alarmingly vulnerable to cybercrime, cyber espionage, and other threats from foreign adversaries". As such, Florida is experiencing a vital need to make cybersecurity a more accessible topic for high school students, college students, and the non-IT background working-class adults; there is an indispensable necessity to educate and equip the next generation of cyber professionals.
The right entry-level training program and certification make it much easier to jump-start your cybersecurity career. Our program focuses on fulfilling the need for a trained and educated workforce in Florida that is prepared to fill cybersecurity and information technology jobs through a pragmatically designed learning experience covering a broad spectrum of knowledge and well-crafted hands-on training.
How we are different from others
When it comes to the national cyber workforce shortage, one of the key contributing factors, among others, is the lack of career awareness among the young generation. Notably, most high school students are not exposed to cybersecurity as a career option until they enter college. Furthermore, many believe that cybersecurity is a complex subject area, and high school students typically do not consider looking for a cybersecurity certification to get into the workforce upon graduation. Thus, this program aims to fulfill the need for a trained and educated workforce in Florida that is prepared to fill cybersecurity and information technology jobs through a pragmatically designed learning experience covering a broad spectrum of training and hands-on knowledge. It aims to cover different learning groups, including high-school students and working adults, particularly those with non-IT backgrounds, to enable competitive workplace know-how in the 21st century.
In addition, the program will also allow the pathways to the people looking to enter the job market before they finish their four-year degree by empowering them with the necessary tools and techniques. Accordingly, the proposed program has the following key objectives:
Get the solid foundational knowledge, and the hands-on training employers are looking for with a widely accepted cybersecurity certification from the experts you can trust
There is no cost to you
This is an initiative under the Expanding Cybersecurity and Information Technology Pathways program of CyberFlorida in order to increase the number of trained and/or educated workers in Florida that are prepared to fill cybersecurity/information technology (IT) jobs in the state and the Nation. Hence, it does not cost you.
Best team of cybersecurity experts
You will be in good hands with a team of industry-leading cybersecurity experts from the University of South Florida, and they will teach and assist you every step of the way.
Mix of theritical and hands-on
The curriculum is carefully designed with a proper mix of hands-on exercises, training, and the latest advances in cybersecurity research to make it easy to understand and follow.
tailored to your learning styles
Our program is designed to cater to the needs of different learning groups and their learning styles. It does not matter whether you are doing it in a slow or a fast track phase; feel free to pick a session that suits best for you.
globally recognized certification
The program will train and prepare you with the required tools and know-how to sit for a globally recognized, industry-standard cybersecurity certification.
Meet our leadership team who will bring the best cybersecurity education and collaborative learning experience to you!
Dr. Chang has been a professor in the Electrical Engineering department at USF since 2016, with prior faculty positions at Iowa State University (2001-2016), Illinois Institute of Technology (1995-2001), and Rochester Institute of Technology (1993-1995). Before joining academia, he also practiced as a computer engineer at AT&T Bell Labs (1988-1990). His recent research efforts cover a broad spectrum of cybersecurity subject areas, including authentication to malware detection, privacy-enhancing technologies, and security in machine learning, and were funded by different DoD agencies. Dr. Chang received his PhD degree in Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University. He received the IIT University Excellence in Teaching Award in 1999, and Dr. Chang was inducted into the NC State University ECE Alumni Hall of Fame in 2019. Over the past 10 years, he has served as the lead PI on the following projects funded by DoD agencies:
"Capturing Cognitive Processing Time for Active Authentication", DARPA Active Authentication Program.
"Automatic Vetting for Malice in Android Platforms", DARPA APAC (Automatic Program Analysis for Cybersecurity) Program.
"Efficient Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning: Strategies, Implementations and Evaluation", DARPA Brandeis Program.
"Data-driven Intelligence for Active Identification and Characterization", United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).
Dr. Wang earned his doctoral and masters degrees from the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice and a specialist degree (post-master) from the College of Information at Florida State University. In addition to his academic training, he has about a decade long full-time working experience of program evaluation and data analysis, in both state government and a statewide non-profit organization. Dr. Wang is a US Fulbright Core Scholar of 2020-21 and a receiver of the Chiang Ching-kuo International Scholar Research Grant 2021 and National Institute of Justice - Graduate Research Fellowship 2009-10. Since affiliated with USF, he has published two books titled "Digital Robbery" and "How career-ladder jobs increase employment prospects", both are directly relevant to the project.
Dr. Samaraweera received his BSc degree in computer systems and networking from Curtin University, Australia, and a MSc in enterprise application development degree from Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He earned his PhD in electrical engineering at USF, concentrating his research on cybersecurity and data science. His research is about “Security and Privacy Enhancement Technologies in the Deep Learning Era”, addressing the privacy and security issues identified in today’s data-driven applications and providing in-depth solutions to mitigate such issues. Over the years, he has worked with multiple large-scale US Department of Defense (DoD) funded cybersecurity research projects. Before joining USF, Dr. Samaraweera worked in the industry as a software engineer/electrical engineer for about 6+ years, managing and deploying enterprise-level solutions. During his tenure at USF, he has co-authored a book on "Privacy-preserving Machine Learning" with Dr. Morris Chang, covering a broad aspect of cybersecurity and data privacy.