Cyber Security first graduates

During Commencement 2018, North Central State College will celebrate the graduation of its first six students from the IT-Cyber Security Program.

The graduates are Alexander Parker of Mansfield, Bethany Garber of Ashland, Tristan Gardner of Lexington, Nicole Gibson of Willard, Nicholas McGregor of Butler, and Tyler Westmoreland of Willard.

Mohamed Ghonimy, assistant professor of Cyber Security, began heading the program in 2017. “The classes get the students ready to join the workforce upon graduation,” he explains.

Cyber security student Bethany Garber works on a project in class.“The program has evolved rapidly in the past year with the support of faculty and administration at North Central State College.”

The cyber security program prepares students to detect and defend against network infrastructure attacks. They learn to think like a hacker and how to use the tools hackers use to penetrate network defenses.

Bethany Garber, one of the six graduates, explains why she chose to be a part of the program. “With the way our world is going right now, technology is becoming more and more prominent. As long as technology improves, the need for the cyber security professionals becomes greater.”

“If there is going to be a need for anything in the tech field, it’s going to be security. People are getting smarter and are figuring out how to get your personal information easier.” Garber continues, “I think everyone dealing with any electronic device should at least take a security introduction class.”

All six students graduating from the program will earn an associate of applied science degree in information technology cyber security.