Cybersecurity Summer Program Sponsored by the NSA (National Security Agency) and the NSF (National Science Foundation)
At this weeklong summer program sponsored by the NSA and the NSF, my knowledge on cybersecurity and computer science expanded greatly! Students who applied were only female since there is an imbalance in the gender ratios in the cybersecurity and technology fields. Essentially, this program raised awareness of cybersecurity to encourage more girls to get into cybersecurity. Initially, I did not think that I would want to go into cybersecurity because it sounds like such a foreign topic! After the program ended, I decided that I want to go into cybersecurity for my career.
On the first day of the program, my knowledge of cybersecurity was very minimal, but my knowledge of coding was fairly decent. Day one consisted of a lot of orientation presentations, overviews of the program, and mentor talks! If I remember correctly, on Monday, we participated in mentor talks with Gina, Beverly, and Erin, three females who are all in the cybersecurity field. One of the ladies works with the FBI and it was so astonishing to see these ladies working with such large corporations like the FBI and NSA.
My highlights of day two were the hardware, networking, and cables module. During this module, I took apart a computer! Many people get computers, desktops, and laptops all mixed up. Computers are rectangular shaped devices that are commonly found when paired with desktops. While taking it apart, I was intrigued by all of the small sections of the computer.
The third day of the GenCyber summer program consisted of a coding module and a lecture session on passwords. The coding module was my favorite part of the day because we had the freedom to code a customized song and even code a game! By the end of the day, we had an extra fifteen minutes so the program directors set up Kahoot for us to play. Guess who got first place!? 🙂
By day four, we were coming close to our research project presentation, so we had some time to finalize our presentations. We researched the effects of phishing attacks, cookies, malware, antiviruses, and how secure browsers affect the safety of individuals.
Finally, the program came to an end on day five. The final day was dedicated to the research project presentations and we all presented our projects.
Overall, this program was truly a memorable program and I am so glad that I kept an open mind. Initially, I thought that this program would just be for fun, but now I'm considering cybersecurity as a future!!