The Cullman Area Technology Academy’s newly launched Cybersecurity Program is preparing students to defend against one of the world’s fastest growing threats. 

CATA began offering dual-enrollment cybersecurity courses through Wallace State Community College at the start of the 2023-2024 school year, but this year has provided students a more direct pipeline to the job market with an in-house course path. 

Cybersecurity is a method of protecting computer systems, networks and programs from digital attacks which modify, access or destroy sensitive customer information, extort money or disrupt normal operation. Chase Nelson— who was tapped to teach the class after working in the Cullman County Board of Education’s I.T. Department for the past seven years — said as more industries and public agencies have become targets of cyber attacks, there as been an explosion in demand for protection specialists. 

“They can’t really meet the demand,” Nelson said. “It’s getting scarier how smart some of these people are becoming on how to get this information. I personally see it just growing more and more.” 

According to a study from Fortune Business Insights, the global cybersecurity market is projected to be valued at $193.73 billion USD by the end of 2024 and exhibit a compound annual growth rate of 14.3 percent through 2032 when it is predicted to reach $562.72 billion in value. Cybersecurity Ventures — the world’s leading researcher and publisher covering the global cyber economy — predict nearly 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs will remain unfilled through 2025, 750,000 of those within the U.S..

Nelson said to prepare students to enter into the field, they must first begin with the basics of learning how computer systems and computers themselves function. He said he asks students to “stick with him” through the more rudimentary first section of the program where he introduces the concepts of algorithms, networks, firewalls and software architecture. The course’s second block, he said, dives more into the meat and potatoes of cybersecurity and covers social engineering tactics and Linux coding. Nelson said students will even learn how to develop secure networks companies can use by introducing them to the techniques commonly used by hackers. 

“That’s what they are really excited about. I told them the first day they just needed to stick with me, because this first part could be a little bit boring, because they were going to see some of those password cracking tools, how people use phishing and ransomware and how to help prevent that through that network security,” Nelson said. 

Nelson said students who remain into the third and fourth year of the program will be given the opportunity to receive the industry standard CompTia certifications. CATA plans to partner with local businesses to offer possible internship opportunities. 

While some of the most likely targets of cyberattacks have been companies in the banking, financial and insurance sectors, Nelson said hackers have begun to diversify their targets to include local government agencies, educational institutions and even local utility providers. 

“Education really is a low-hanging fruit for ransomware attacks,” Nelson said. “If you steal a student’s information when they’re five, they aren’t going to notice until they go to try to get a car or a loan or something. It’s kind of crazy how they switched over from more of the business world to education. It blew my mind when I started seeing that more.” 

Check Point Research collects and analyzes global cyber attack data and found a 30 percent increase on cyber attacks against U.S. education and research institutions between January and August 2024. The same report showed a 70 percent increase against utility providers. 

Earlier this year in Tennessee, the Johnson City Board of Education lost more than $3 million to a cyber attack and an attack against the Alabama Department of Education may have exposed student and staff data which includes personally identifiable information such as names, addresses and Social Security numbers in July. 

A report from IT Governance USA reported 2,741 publicly disclosed cyber attacks in the U.S. between November 2023 and April 2024 which breached nearly 7 billion personal records. Ransomware attacks against the city of Birmingham, Alabama and Ascension Health, which operates five hospitals in the Birmingham area, disrupted health services and left law enforcement officials unable to perform warrant searches in the state’s largest metropolitan area. The Cullman County Revenue office was the subject of a malware attack in late 2023 which forced a temporary shutdown of its online payment portal leaving some residents unable to pay property taxes or vehicle registration fees.

Nelson understands how the majority of this information can be overwhelming, particularly for students with little or no experience with technology. However, he said instead of approaching his class from a typical professional in the IT industry — one he acknowledged was overwhelmingly dominated by white males — he prefers to meet students where they are and speaking to them on their level. 

“Some programmers, you can’t even talk to them because their intellect is just very intimidating. Well, this is all brand new to a lot of these kids. I told them on the first day, ‘Everybody is on the same playing field. There’s no reason to be ashamed about what you don’t know,’ That’s helped them be more comfortable with it,” Nelson said. 

At times, Nelson said that means understanding what a student’s existing passion is and relating it back how cybersecurity and IT can be incorporated into that. One student, he said, and exhibited an interest in criminology. As a true crime buff himself, Nelson said he explained how investigators used digital forensics to extract metadata from a Memorex floppy disk — a technology he said none of the students were familiar with — sent to a Fox affiliate in Wichita, Kansas to identify Dennis Rader as the serial killer, BTK. 

“You have to find what these students are interested in and relate it. That has really helped them grow and see what all they can do,” Nelson said. “When we were first meeting about this class I told them I don’t care who they are. I don’t care if they are male, female, black, white or what their orientation is. Let’s find something they are passionate about and that they can do well in.”