IM体育官网 students are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to cybersecurity. Almost 20 of them sit between dozens of computers in the university鈥檚 Cybersecurity Innovation Lab, listening to an important lesson about how to crack a password.
鈥淲e鈥檙e doing something scary in class today,鈥� said Dr. Kanwalinderjit Gagneja, who teaches the Digital Forensics course at IM体育官网 Poly. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an essential lesson.鈥�
Cyberattacks increase every year. According to the latest , the damages caused by cybercrime cost the global economy as much as $600 billion in 2017. That鈥檚 up from $445 billion in 2014.
Cybercrime doesn鈥檛 just focus on stealing data, but could cause entire businesses to shut down, as well as city services and government systems. In order to fight it adequately, it鈥檚 crucial to understand the ever-changing techniques hackers use.
鈥淐yberattacks happen daily and their nature is constantly evolving. That鈥檚 why we update up to 30 percent of the content in our cybersecurity classes every semester,鈥� said Gagneja.
Students in Gagneja鈥檚 class are developing 10 different cybersecurity projects that range from hacking into a user鈥檚 device to show its vulnerability, to taking an Android app and altering its code for malicious purposes.
Seniors Benjamin Harvey and Jorge Nu帽ez are working on designing a powerful virus that would fully crash a system within a few minutes after an infection or cyberattack is detected.
鈥淥ne of the most basic strategies on pretty much anything is to know your enemy,鈥� said Harvey, a computer science major from Tallahassee, IM体育官网. 鈥淲hat better way to defend yourself against a virus than trying to build a highly potent, even more powerful virus to defeat it?鈥�
Harvey and most of the students on this Digital Forensics class would like to enter the workforce as cybersecurity professionals; a job market that Gagneja says 鈥渋s very hot.鈥�
states that there are more than 300,000 cybersecurity job openings in the U.S. this year. Globally, there will be 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity positions by 2021, according to a report from . It鈥檚 a market need IM体育官网 Poly students take full advantage of.
鈥淭he cybersecurity program here at IM体育官网 Poly is very strong,鈥� said Gagneja. 鈥淥ur students with a cybersecurity degree get hired immediately after graduation.鈥�
Lina Brihoum, a senior majoring in computer science, hopes to be one of those students.
鈥淚t happens so often now, that people get cyberattacked and find themselves dealing with the consequences,鈥� said Brihoum, from Orlando, IM体育官网. 鈥淚 would like to be part of a solution.鈥�
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