CWW | CyberWatch West

CWW Puts Students on Path for Success

In 2014, 1,407 students enrolled in security programs at CWW core institutions—Whatcom Community College; California State University, San Bernardino; California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Coastline Community College. Of these students, 341 completed the program, and 985 are still enrolled; 71% were minorities.

Since its inception in 2011 CWW has offered 17 skill-building workshops for 267 member-college faculty. Topics have included Certified Ethical Hacker and forensics. Faculty also received mentoring to build courses using virtual repositories for images. CWW makes new curriculum resources, such as 13 open source courses on critical infrastructure security and resilience, available to faculty via its website.

CWW Builds Capacity

During the fall 2014 National Cyber League competition, students participated online in a “capture-the-flag” exercise using skills that included web application exploitation, network traffic analysis, recon, scanning, and enumeration to find and retrieve files containing passwords (flags). Of the 1,368 students who participated—a 48% increase over the previous year—1,040 (76%) captured at least one flag. Through participation in such competitions, students develop and validate cybersecurity skills that are valued by employers.

CWW has expanded its membership and services into 14 states, contributed to increasing the number of Centers of Academic Excellence for two- and four-year institutions, supported the development of a thriving cybersecurity education community, and enhanced the cybersecurity workforce through these combined efforts.

CWW Shares Expertise with Industry

CWW’s positive economic impact extends to its work with various industry sectors to help employers protect their companies from cyber attacks. In 2014 three core CWW institutions held Cyber Risk Summits. A total of 605 people attended including CEOs, CTOs, and personnel from businesses’ human resources, accounting, and legal departments. Participants learned how to assess their companies’ vulnerabilities and develop risk mitigation solutions.