As society gradually increases its reliance on iPhones, Fitbits, Google Drive and Alexa to get through daily life, the need to secure digital property grows.
This fall semester, Long Beach State added cybersecurity as a new minor through the College of Engineering. It consists of 18 units of existing classes and is open to students of any major of junior standing with a 2.0 GPA.
A career in cybersecurity entails protecting computer systems from data theft or harmful viruses. The field has different specialties such as computer forensics, which consists of retracing the steps of how an entity hacked into a system. Another focus within the minor is application security, which focuses on identifying a software’s weak points and fixing them before they become threats.
As stated in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is a 28 percent projected job growth for a cybersecurity consultant from 2016-2026 with a wage of $92,600. This is higher than the median annual wage for the profession, which the United States Social Security Service identified as $46,640 in 2016.
“We decided that as an educational institution this is one of our responsibilities to do,” said Mehrdad Aliasgari, assistant professor for the College of Engineering. “We need to make sure that we’re providing the proper cybersecurity education, at least the foundation of it.”
Most job openings require one to three years of experience, so it is recommended that students to gain as much practice as possible.
“Awareness and ability to deal with cybersecurity measures is a skill that is always great on any setting,” said Dr. Forouzan Golshani, dean for the College of Engineering. “Regardless of your major, if you can specialize in this, you made yourself more marketable for any employer.”
Kat Schuster contributed to this article.