Alyssa Van Duise Chippewa Valley Technical College
EAU CLAIRE — Conrad Ledeber exuded a cool demeanor Monday morning as he sat in Chippewa Valley Technical College's new computer lab used for cybersecurity training.
The fourth-semester IT networking student, along with six classmates, was tasked with first recognizing that a cybersecurity breach had occurred and then finding a way to fix it.
“I'm cautiously optimistic,” Ledeber said with a smile, anticipating the challenges he and his classmates are sure to face.
Stephen Casselman, the group's CVTC IT networking lecturer, said that as soon as universities purchase CyberBit software to teach students and businesses how to deal with cybersecurity threats, they must try the software. He said he had determined that.
“We are poised to take a leadership position in the cybersecurity space,” Casselman said. “It's about instructors knowing the practical application of it and teaching it to students and, in the future, to businesses in western Wisconsin.”
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But Casselman said instructors need to be well prepared before tackling the private sector.
The seven students logged into the software and waited for their custom event to begin.
As IT students anxiously waited before the 9:30 a.m. start, Ledebur, 19, a Chippewa Falls High School graduate, said that's where his love for IT was born.
As a sophomore in high school, he enrolled in a class to learn how to repair Chromebook computers. In the Chippewa Falls School District, every student uses his Chromebook at school. Teaching students how to repair computers helps the school district and allows students to learn her IT skills.
“I took that class for fun, but I realized I loved working with technology,” Ledebuhr said. “Then I became an intern at a high school, and my job was primarily fixing student devices. I also spent the summer working on installing different technologies and using different systems. That sparked my interest in the field of information technology.
“And when I looked at my options in this area, CVTC seemed like the best bang for my buck.”
In his fourth semester, he is preparing to use this wealth of experience to enter the “real world.”
Just before the training's 9:30 a.m. curtain call, he said he doesn't know if he will strictly pursue a career in cybersecurity, but even if he doesn't, cybersecurity is everyone's responsibility. .
“This is a world in which every IT employee is inherently involved,” says Ledebuhr. “It's on everyone's shoulders. Anyone who works in the technology industry has some level of responsibility to not do anything that puts the company at risk of infringement.”
As he said those words, Mr. Casselman decided that the training had begun. Ledebuhr and his classmates delved into scenarios of large networks where systems had been hacked and websites had been defaced.
“They had to work as a team to discover what it was and how to recover from it,” Casselman said. “We were told to do this using tools that are checked daily by experts in case something like this happens. Students have to piece together information and follow the trail. did.
“In many ways, this is like a digital escape room with more realistic scenarios.”
The students worked on the training for two hours. Casselman said the students passed the overall scenario and it was a victory.
Ledebar and his classmates applied the knowledge they had gained over the past few semesters, working together to understand problems and determine solutions.
“The students had no real-world experience with a real-world breach that could be applied to this scenario and had to learn to communicate as they worked on their next steps,” Casselman said. “When communication breaks down, students end up wasting time by looking at options they don't need or making false assumptions.”
Casselman said that's the point of the training: learning which next steps are the most logical so the situation can be resolved as quickly as possible.
“Many professionals who do this job for a living and have never solved a case are likely to overthink it and think about it more deeply than they should,” he says. “These students are now gaining career experience, and this scenario has proven that they are well matched with industry professionals.”
