Inside Indiana’s cybersecurity education expansion

Last month, Indiana launched an initiative to expand cybersecurity education across its K-12 schools, to connect its students with colleges, careers and — in a national first — military service.

The effort expands access to The College Board’s Advanced Placement Cybersecurity course, as well as Project Lead the Way’s cybersecurity courses, and it is led by the Indiana Department of Education, the Indiana Cyber Network, the Indiana National Guard and various other organizations, including business groups, academic institutions.

It comes as the state, like others around the nation, wrestles with the urgent need to fill more than 20,000 open cybersecurity roles. Right now, around 69 public high schools in the state offer cybersecurity courses, with access for about 560 students. Over the next three years, Indiana is looking to grow that number to 200 high schools, reaching approximately 4,000 students. 

The state also wants to increase the number of students who enroll in cybersecurity degree programs, pursue a cybersecurity specialty in the National Guard and secure cybersecurity jobs with Indiana businesses.

“Through this collaboration, Indiana’s cybersecurity sector will be able to meet its talent needs with highly-skilled homegrown professionals, and our students will be better prepared than ever before to excel in these high-wage, high-demand careers that will shape the future of our state and nation,” Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said in a statement at the time.

The partnership aims to increase access to cybersecurity coursework and digital literacy opportunities for K-12 students; expand hands‑on learning experiences, including career exploration and work-based learning opportunities; strengthen collaboration between schools, higher education and industry partners; and support educators with professional development aligned to cybersecurity career pathways. It will look to make cybersecurity far more integrated into education.

“It's so unusual and not nearly prevalent enough for education, especially K-12, to focus on advancing technology and cybersecurity, specifically as a subject, let alone a skill, or even the human attributes that are needed to succeed,” said Debbie Sallis, executive director at The Cyber Guild, a cyber workforce nonprofit that is involved in this effort. “We're a network of leaders, basically, and it's a constant theme: How do we make this a subject of note much earlier in the system?”

And it’s not just about technical skills, either. Alyssa Chudnofsky, executive director at The College Board, said the curriculum will also be focused on building students’ soft skills like communication, problem solving, teamwork and other aspects that aren’t so readily explored in the high school setting right now.

“We sometimes have expectations that high school students are knowing those soft skills that they're learning, and then are able to communicate that in the job interview setting, and it's really hard to do,” she said. “Most people don't learn that until they're in their mid to late 20s, to be honest. Helping be more transparent and explicit about soft skills is going to be important, because I know it comes up all the time.”

This partnership comes at a pivotal time for cybersecurity, as those in the sector wrestle with the impact of artificial intelligence both offensively and defensively. While some aspects of cybersecurity could be automated, like threat monitoring and other repetitive processes, Sallis said there will always be a need for human beings. Getting people trained and educated is key, she said.

“We're some way away from understanding how this is really going to unfold,” Sallis said. “There's always the knee-jerk and the fear and the bubble at the beginning of a new technology. We're at the very beginning of something that we don't really truly understand… AI is nowhere near replacing human ingenuity that's required to really prevent attacks, understand and remediate attacks, and to increase security and mitigate risk.”

Chudnofsky and Sallis said measuring success takes a number of forms, including expanding access to cybersecurity education, especially in rural and disadvantaged schools, as well as seeing improved exam results and more students placed with various companies, as well as military and government organizations.

Gaining a better understanding of the skills that employers are looking for in cybersecurity students and graduates will also be key, Chudnofsky said, as it can help better match prospective employees with their first job.

“It takes a lot of coordination with employers, it takes a lot of coordination with the [Indiana Chamber of Commerce] to make sure that we can understand and connect the dots between what employers are looking for in these entry level, early stage roles and what's being provided to them through their high school and postsecondary education,” she said.