As business, finance, utilities, national security and many other sectors of the economy and government expand their online operations, security grows more important. In the business arena alone, where experts believe hundreds of recent ransomware attacks have been occurred, businesses and governments are making cybersecurity instruction a growing priority for colleges and universities.
The University of Alabama in Huntsville invited visitors to see its new cybersecurity laboratory Friday at the end of its first week of classes. The laboratory is in the College of Business, and Dean Jayson Greene called it “a state of the art facility.”
“The lab will offer our students access to the latest cloud-based cyber technologies, as well as a state-of-the-art learning environment that fosters collaboration and a team approach to problem solving,” Greene said.
D.J. Hovermale, a cyber security expert with federal defense expertise and lecturer at UAH, said the goal of the university’s cyber programs is “a deep understanding” of threats, responses and technology in the field.
If the classrooms to do that are “designed properly,” Associate Professor of Information Systems Jay Park said, “students can have fun and effective learning.” The new laboratory puts that idea into practice with modern technology and large tables where students sit and collaborate in classes such as “computer forensics.”
The need for computer and systems professionals “is growing exponentially,” Professor Wai Yin Mok said. Mok said the university has taught cybersecurity for “quite a while,” but the new lab “is unique to the community and the state.”
The school’s cyber security program focuses on virtual teaching and research and collaborative teaching. It includes forensic workstations, imagers and other tools to give students a “unique hands-on experience in detecting, investigating and analyzing cyber breaches,” the university said.
