CYBERSECURITY COURSES RAMP UP AMID SHORTAGE OF PROFESSIONALS

The pressure was on. Someone, somewhere, was attacking computer systems so customers couldn’t reach certain websites. In a windowless room in Denver, Zack Privette had worked all morning with his security team to figure out what the cyber strangers were up to.

“What’s happened is that we have an attacker who has been going through our different websites and they found a vulnerability into our active directory and …,” Privette explained to Richard Mac Namee, identified as chief operating officer of the company under attack.

“OK, I’m not technical. What does that mean?” interrupted Mac Namee, who is really the director of the new Cybersecurity Center at Metropolitan State University of Denver. And he’s actually quite technical.

This was a simulation.

The makeshift “Cyber Range” command center inside MSU Denver’s Cybersecurity Center had multiple TV screens showing ominous maps of live cyber threats. It’s part of a unique training ground for students, recent grads and people who don’t even attend the college but are interested in cybersecurity careers.

Privette, who isn’t an MSU student, got to experience the Cyber Range program because it’s open to outsiders. The industry needs more outsiders. According to one estimate,