New Academic Cyber-Center Now Calls AACC Its Home

By Rochelle Karina

The internet has come a long way since its inception. What was once a loosely connected matrix of relatively few computers has become a world-wide phenomenon where even grandmas “surf the web.” With the advance of new technology, however, comes a series of new problems and concerns.
Cyber Crime sounds like a term from an old science-fiction novel, but it’s a fact of life in the wired lane. What’s the answer to cyber crime? Why, cyber security, of course.
“Every aspect of our national life – whether it is government, industry, academia or personal – depends upon information assurance and cyber security,” according to Richard (Dickie) M. George, Information Assurance Technical Director at the National Security Agency, which, along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, takes these things very seriously. The two agencies recently designated Anne Arundel Community College’s Cyber-Center as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Two Year Education (CAE2Y).

AACC is only one of three community colleges in the state to receive the designation. In all, there are only seven colleges and universities in the state to receive the recognition, and nationwide only six two-year colleges have accomplished the goal.
AACC is also the nation’s first community college to win federal certification of its information security and cyber crime curricula. Students graduating from AACC’s program will acquire a backbone of information assurance knowledge, ready to meet the growing needs for electronic security.
In February 2010, nearly 75,000 computer systems were hacked into. Sometimes the point of an attack isn’t to steal data but to simply undermine the system’s ability to operate. Our world is becoming increasingly digital, and while that opens up new frontiers it also opens up new dangers.
AACC is not new to the information age. The college has been a leader in cyber security training for seven years already and boasts an award-winning, state-of-the-art Information and Cyber Security program that offers an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree. AACC Cyber-Center programs received Innovation of the Year by the League for Innovation in the Community College Post-Secondary Program.
At the Cyber-Center, students find thinking outside the box is the norm; the curriculum includes classes in “ethical hacking” among other non-traditional techniques. The college is also part of the Pathways to Cyber Security Careers Consortium, which just received a $4.9 million grant to train 1,000 workers in cyber skills and meet growing workforce needs.
“Technology is evolving so fast… Hackers are finding so many ways to tap into networks and so much of what we do is defending against this,” explained Carrie Leary, who has served as assistant professor in the Computer Technologies Department at AACC and has a background in global IT consulting. “We’re able to adapt the curriculum as the technology changes and can get a class off the ground fairly fast,” she added.
Currently in development are classes in mobile security, networks and specific industry needs. True to its cyber-roots, the college hopes to move many of the classes on-line and there are also plans for a virtual lab that will allow students to do their assignments in a real-world environment.
“All our cyber labs are hands on,” says Leary. “Our students are actually physically doing networking they would be doing in a job.”
The labs include the same hardware and software students would find in the real world. Instructors at the Cyber-Center are industry practitioners, who know the work and have done it themselves.
“The creation of the Cyber-Center is an indication of AACC’s commitment to promote cyber security awareness and provide knowledge and skills to those individuals seeking to advance their current career, as well as to those individuals preparing for new careers in the field,” said Leary.
The new information and Cyber-Security program includes the AAS degree as well as certificate and stand-alone courses designed to prepare students for positions in the cyber security field, or for transfer to a four-year institution.