Abstract
The Cybersecurity Ambassador Program provides professional skills training for emerging cybersecurity professionals remotely. The goal is to reach out to underrepresented populations who may use Federal Work-Study (FWS) or grant sponsored internships to participate. Cybersecurity Ambassadors (CAs) develop skills that will serve them well as cybersecurity workers prepared to do research, lead multidisciplinary, technical teams, and educate stakeholders and community members. CAP also reinforces leadership skills so that the next generation of cybersecurity professionals becomes a sustainable source of management talent for the program and profession. The remote curriculum innovatively builds non-technical professional skills (communications, teamwork, leadership) for cybersecurity research through student-led applied research and creating community-focused workshops. These student-produced workshops are in phishing, identity and privacy cyber safety, social media safety, and everyday home cyber safety. The CAs tailor the program to a particularly vulnerable population such as older adults, students, veterans, or similar people that make up most workshop participants. At this time, the data shows that this pedagogical approach to curriculum development, grounded in the Ground Truth Expertise Development Model (GTEDM), is a unique methodology. This curriculum teaches cybersecurity interns with key non-technical but critical KSAs for cybersecurity professional development has proved to be a factor in accelerated hiring for program participants.
DOI
10.32727/8.2023.6
Included in
Information Security Commons, Management Information Systems Commons, Technology and Innovation Commons