SJSU Hosts Cybersecurity Camp for Local High School Students

By Derrick Meyer, Communications Specialist for the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering.

What's been happening at San Jose State University (SJSU) during the summer while most students have been on break? The week of July 22 to 26 proved to be an exciting time for local high school students from Archbishop Mitty, Fremont Hills, Cupertino, Independence, Notre Dame San José and Santa Teresa. These students had the opportunity to participate in a cybersecurity camp that was a collaboration among the College of Engineering, the College of Science, the College of Information, Data and Society, and California State University San Bernardino.

During the week-long event, attendees learned commands in Linux and were introduced to the components that make up cybersecurity, including how to defend against applications from exploiting individuals or what are more commonly known as hacks. The high school students found it helpful not only to learn about defending against cybersecurity hacks but also to gain insights into various career paths. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, cybersecurity positions like information security analyst have a growth potential of 32 percent over the next 8 years. Cybersecurity jobs have been in high demand because more and more industries are using technology to run their businesses which makes them more vulnerable to external threats.

One student thought that getting a perspective on cybersecurity defense from a representative from Google and the CEO of a startup was invaluable as it demonstrated the need for this skill set in a real world setting. Other students thought that learning about cybersecurity tips to keep themselves secure was a way to defend against personal risks that many individuals face today.

Another student thought ahead about how to implement artificial intelligence into coding cybersecurity to analyze logs, predict threats, read source code, identify vulnerabilities and even to reduce the exploitation of weaknesses.

Overall, student cybersecurity camp attendees thought it was a great way to introduce cybersecurity to young people. Some admitted that they didn't know a lot about the subject prior to coming to camp, but that participation in the event definitely piqued their interest.

Funding for this event was made possible by the state's Cybersecurity Regional Alliances and Multi Stakeholder Partnership Pilot Program and $1 million was given to San José State University to fund efforts like the cybercamp over the course of three years. Melody Moh, professor and computer science chair at the College of Science, along with Xiao Su, associate dean for graduate studies and research at the College of Engineering are grant principal investigator and co-principal investigator, respectively.

"The purpose of the grant is to increase the cybersecurity workforce in California, and it gives us an opportunity to collaborate with two sister campuses (CSU San Bernardino and Fresno State) to build stronger partnerships with K-12 and community colleges. The high school camp is one of the initiatives funded by the grant," says Su.

"We were very excited to host 33 local high school students. The group was comprised of an almost equal number of girls and boys as well as a high percentage of young people from San José's East Side High School Union District," says Moh. "This is a transformative experience for them that can enable these young people to choose cybersecurity and AI-related majors in their college coursework, and as they look at potential future careers. They, along with our outstanding student assistants, will also become early influencers in the effort to diversify the cyber technology workforce in Silicon Valley."

Students were made aware of the cybersecurity camp through teachers who thought rising seniors and juniors might get a benefit from attending. This was encouraged not only to make students aware of the opportunity, but also to help them learn cybersecurity fundamentals and skills that enable them to safeguard their online presence and learn about career choices.

A big shout out to organizers Vincent Nestler, Kasandra Adams, Xiao Su, Tonia San Nicolas-Rocca, Samir Rahman, Ethan Issakhari, Edison Fuh, Zach Hobbs, Grace Li, Arcky Vielma, Nathan Calderon, Jose Bello, Mike Corona, Kristopher Moye and Jonathan Mardoyan for pulling the event together, dedicating their time to the cause, transferring knowledge to students and making it an experience to be remembered.

Learn more about the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering's other programs and initiatives.

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