The Office of Science, Innovation and Technology, along with Nevada Enterprise IT Services, is encouraging high school juniors and seniors, and community college students from Nevada to try CyberStart.
CyberStart is an online education program allowing students to become “cyber protection agents.” Students can attempt more than 100 challenges similar to those faced in the real world and earn points and badges for solving them.
Students don’t have to travel to participate; all they need is an Internet-connected computer.
“The need for cyber security professionals is growing in Nevada, both in State government and in the private sector. This challenge is a great opportunity for students who might be interested in a career in cyber security and want to know what it is like and whether they are good at it,” said Brian Mitchell, Director of the Governor’s Office of Science, Innovation and Technology (OSIT). “In Nevada, the projected growth rate in the number of jobs requiring cyber security skills through 2022 is 30 percent. These jobs have an average wage of about $85,000.”
Last month, Governor Sandoval signed legislation creating the Nevada Office of Cyber Defense Coordination which will be tasked with detecting, preventing, and responding to attacks. This challenge will help raise awareness of the career opportunities available in cyber security and identify promising future professionals in this field. For students interested in pursuing this career, the College of Southern Nevada recently started a new cyber security degree program.
“This is a terrific opportunity for young cyber enthusiasts in Nevada to utilize and build additional skills in this area. The scholarships are a terrific way for students to take their skills and passions and receive funding for higher education,” said Shannon Rahming, Enterprise IT Services Administrator and Nevada’s Chief Information Officer. “The entire state will be the recipient of the talents provided by our future Cyber Security experts and we look forward to having these skilled students join the ranks of other Cyber specialists in the state of Nevada. The SANS Institute is the most trusted and by far the largest source for information security training and security certification in the world, and Nevada is proud to be one of only seven states chosen to compete for scholarships provided by the SANS Institution for the 2017 CyberStart.”
In the game, each player starts as a “cyber protection agent” and is responsible for protecting an important operational base.
The student chooses and solves challenges, earning points along the way. A cyber protection agent field manual provides answers to questions that may arise and hints help when players get stuck.
When the player has solved a sufficient number challenges at one level, a new level opens up and new challenges appear.
SANS Director of Research, Alan Paller, said the nation desperately needs more highly-skilled cyber professionals.
SANS trains more than 30,000 advanced cyber security professionals each year for military and intelligence organizations and for large high-tech companies in the U.S.
“We have new evidence that CyberStart will radically improve the quality and preparation of people entering the cyber security field,” he said. “We discovered that those who have mastered the topics taught and measured in the CyberStart program do far better than others in the advanced cyber security courses that prepare the critically needed people. By opening CyberStart to hundreds of thousands of students we may be able to help the nation identify the next generation of talented people who will excel in this critical field.”
Participants who excel will share in $150,000 in scholarships for further cyber education, and will be eligible to compete for $500,000 in scholarships for college and graduate-level training in cyber security preparing them for certifications widely sought by employers.
Nevada students will be competing with students from six other states for these scholarships, sponsored by the SANS Institute.
The full-scale program will run from Aug. 1-28. Students can access CyberStart at: www.sans.org/cyberstartUS
