Community Column: Palo Alto College teaming up for cyber bootcamp

Computer Sciences and Technology is an industry with continued local and national job growth. Businesses have a need for people with the computer skills to perform daily routine tasks in their offices. At Palo Alto College, we are here to support our students and their success.

With the news of the Colonial Pipeline and the JBS Foods ransomware attacks this summer, Palo Alto College has teamed up with Cyberbit, the global leading provider of cyber skills, assessment, and cyber range platforms, to offer our students the opportunity to participate in a unique, hands-on cybersecurity boot camp experience using the Cyberbit platform July 12, 19, 26, and Aug. 3.

Each day starts with individual learning labs that allow students to practice basic and intermediate cybersecurity investigation techniques, from recognizing signs of a phishing email to identifying malware persistence with a scheduled task. The latter half of the day is dedicated to a Live-Fire Exercise where students will work as a team to uncover and mitigate a simulated, real-world cyber-attack.

Earlier this year, Palo Alto College was recognized for having two of the top 20 associate degree programs in cybersecurity by Best Value Schools, which ranks schools and their programs by the annual tuition and fees per year and the annual graduation rate.

Protecting critical assets over the internet has taken growing precedence in today’s business sectors. With increasing demands for online security and a growing concern for protecting private and trade secret data from hackers, the U.S. job market reflects the needs of cybersecurity in the field. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that cybersecurity jobs will grow 31% from 2019 to 2029.

For more information about Palo Alto College’s Computer Sciences and Technology programs, students can call us at 210-486-3208 or by visiting xgcr.net/pac/pte.

This column by Dr. Robert Garza, president of Palo Alto College, was originally published in the San Antonio Express-News' Southside Reporter and mysanantonio.com.