A new designation by the United States National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security has established the cybersecurity bachelor’s degree program at West Virginia University as one of the top-tier programs in the nation.
At a U.S. Army base command center, a computer beeps and displays a warning: the power has gone down in one corner of the base. Cybersecurity experts jump into action. They ensure critical systems are on backup generators as they search for the reason for the outage. One of them points to her screen and calls out that the power grid’s information system has been compromised—a cyber attack is likely underway.
Three leaders in the field of cybersecurity will be joining together in a panel session to discuss the critical relationship between the cyber domain and national security, and how students can best position themselves for a future career in this growing area.
WhenWest Virginia Universityfirst offered cybersecurity classes in 2003, the gravest fear of a casual Internet user might have been opening an infected email attachment that erased computer files or reset their homepage.
In response to the surging, global demand for cybersecurity professionals, the West Virginia University Board of Governors has officially approved both undergraduate and graduate academic programs in cybersecurity. The approvals by the WVU board set into motion collaborative and independent curricula by the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources and the College of Business and Economics starting in the fall semester of this year.
Office of Personnel Management. JPMorgan Chase. Internal Revenue Service. These are but three of the growing number of organizations that have fallen victim to cyberattacks in recent years. In 2014 alone, more than one billion personal records were illegally accessed — including health, financial, email and home address data, and other personal information like Social Security numbers. A study by IBM found the average consolidated total cost of a data breach is $3.8 million, representing a 23 percent increase since 2013.