President's Blog

Threats and Opportunities in Cybersecurity

Amidst the ghouls and goblins we will see next week, there’s something far scarier that lurks out of sight year-round. As technology continues to evolve and become more complex, statistics show that cyber threats are an increasing risk in 2022. Since 2004, government and private industry have collaborated to mark October as Cybersecurity Awareness Month in an effort to help individuals protect themselves online as risks to technology and confidential data continue to rise.

There is, however, a silver lining: we have a growing opportunity for students and job seekers to find a career in this highly in-demand and growing field.

In 2020 and 2021 combined, the U.S. added more than 260,000 cybersecurity workers according to a report from the cybersecurity nonprofit (ISC)2. However, there are still more than 714,000 open cybersecurity job positions across the country, including more than 16,500 positions in Ohio. The top cybersecurity employees that companies are seeking include cybersecurity analysts, consultants, and managers; penetration and vulnerability testers; software developers; network and systems engineers; systems administrators; and information technology (IT) directors.

The cybersecurity field is one of the biggest projected growth areas in employment, as data shows that one in three IT positions through 2029 will have a cybersecurity focus. A recent LinkedIn search produced thousands of cybersecurity positions that are either on-site in the Toledo metropolitan area or can be done remotely.

In our ongoing effort to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their careers, Owens Community College is focused on offering cybersecurity-related educational opportunities to students of all ages.

In June, Owens hosted 33 students in seventh through ninth grades for a cybersecurity camp, which was part of the Kids Classes and Camp series at the Dana Center. During the camp, young people learned a variety of skills, including coding and encryption, through hands-on activities. They also took part in interactive conversations and friendly competitions and took home a microcontroller known as an M5-Stack. Nine Toledo Public Schools (TPS) students attended the camp thanks to a $2,500 contribution from the TPS Foundation.

In September 2021, we announced a partnership with the University of Cincinnati’s School of Information Technology that provides students from all socioeconomic backgrounds with a pathway toward completing college and obtaining a career in IT. Through this Early IT program, students earn one year of college credit while still in high school, and then enter Owens before transferring to the University of Cincinnati to complete a bachelor’s degree. This program was made possible through a $10,000 Early Information Technology Planning & Implementation Grant. Our Information System Technology (IST) faculty revised the IST degree curriculum, including developing a new Cybersecurity Degree Program and eight IST certificates, to align with the University of Cincinnati, and identified the Early IT course alignments.

At Owens, we also offer a number of technology degrees and certificates through our Department of Computer Information Systems. The IST Security Tech certificate is for students planning to enter the IT security field or planning to continue their education beyond an associate degree. Our Networking and Information Systems Support Associate of Applied Business program is designed to provide students with a powerful combination of career and continuing education options to foster skills as IT Network professionals and for quick entry into this fast-growing profession.

We are excited to offer a new Associate Degree of Applied Science in Cyber Security next year to prepare students to be entry-level candidates in the Information and Cyber Security industry. Students will earn industry-recognized certifications and explore Cyber Security topics using state-of-the-art equipment and lab simulations. The program will introduce them to the hands-on skillsets of software and hardware security tools to aid in the designing of secure systems and protecting enterprise information and network assets. Students will be introduced to investigating computer-related crimes and identifying the resources exploited by cybercriminals and terrorists. This curriculum also will introduce students to the standards, models, and best practices used to solve real-world issues and to draft security policies to resolve risks and threats to today’s IT infrastructure.

Our conversations around cybersecurity are not limited to students and professionals in the field. We all have a responsibility to protect ourselves and our community from cyber threats. So, I’d like to close this month’s blog with a few helpful tips you can use to stay secure both on and off campus.

• If anything about an email makes you suspicious, don’t click any links!
• Don’t let scammers’ sense of urgency make you careless. Calls for “immediate action needed” or threats of dire consequences like “your account will be deleted” are dead giveaways that the sender is not legitimate.
• Watch out for misspellings. This is a common tactic scammers use. They don’t want you to notice you are clicking on a link to Microsft.com instead of Microsoft.com.
• Never click a link or download an attachment from an email that you weren’t expecting. Even if the sender appears to be part of a legitimate organization, the email address could be spoofed.
• Hover over any links and check the link address. Does it match the website for the sender exactly? Netflix.mymovies.com is not the same as Netflix.com. They are counting on you seeing the word Netflix and not noticing the website is really mymovies.com.
• Hover over the sender’s email addresses. Look carefully at the entire address. Scammers try to fool you into thinking they are legitimate. Adobe@gmail.com is one example of an official-looking email address, except Adobe would use its own email domain to send from.

Dione D. Somerville, Ed.D.
President