JTED has introduced a new program surrounding cyber security. The course teaches students about different aspects of cyber security, such as threat mitigation techniques. It’s a JTED course that lasts one to three years and can be started during your sophomore year. Two sophomores at Sahuaro, Harry Barsiwal and Brody Villaman, are part of the very first batch of students to take this class and they are having a lot of fun.
The program takes place after school on either Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Thursdays depending on what works for you. The first year of the course mainly focuses on coding, coding aspects, and how to use your computer properly. The next two years primarily focus on finding vulnerabilities in systems and doing penetration tests. Penetration testing is when a company hires a cyber security professional to look for vulnerabilities in their systems so they can fix them before a malicious hacker can exploit them. Completing the third year of the program will reward you with a certification that allows you to work as an ethical hacker – someone who hacks into computer networks to test their security. Along with that, you can earn college credit by completing the course. If you study computer science in college, then this class may allow you to skip some courses and if you don’t, this can count as elective credits.
Harry and Brody are both taking the first-year class and they are loving it. Currently, they are working on what they call a “red team blue team exercise.” Brody explained, “There’s two teams. It’s going to be our class versus the Monday/Wednesday class. The blue team acts to secure a website we made, take proper precautions, and make sure there are no vulnerabilities in it.” Harry explained the other side saying, “The red team, what they do is they hack into the computer, so they try to break through the boundaries that the blue team has set.” Each class will take the role of the hacker and the hacked to learn different forms of computer protection. Plus, if they want to go on to be ethical hackers, they’re learning what vulnerabilities to look for to help alert companies to flaws in their systems.
The class is very competitive and they have a limited number of seats. If you want to join the class then you need to apply sooner rather than later, as they don’t accept new students at the semester. If you are a freshman, sophomore, or junior you are eligible to sign up. If you want to follow in Harry and Brody’s footsteps then sign up as soon as possible. You can enroll starting on January 29th, 2024 for the 2024-2025 school year. To sign up go to: https://pimajted.org/programs/cybersecurity-and-artificial-intelligence/ and click enroll today.
