By Byron V. Acohido
Michigan is cultivating a collection of amazing cybersecurity training facilities, called Cyber Range hubs, that are shining models for what’s possible when inspired program leaders are given access to leading-edge resources, wisely supplied by public agencies and private foundations.
As a guest of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, I recently had the chance to tour the Pinckney Community High School Cyber Training Institute in a rural community outside of Ann Arbor, and the newly opened Cyber Range hub at the West Michigan Center for Arts + Technology, or WMCAT, in Grand Rapids. These two facilities lacked nothing in terms of state-of-the-art telepresence equipment and training and testing curriculums.
Both were well-equipped to teach, test and train individuals ranging from teen-agers and non-technical adults, to working system administrators and even seasoned tech security pros.
Merit 1981
State-of-the-art telepresence gear, supplied by Merit Network, funnels everything from capture-the-flag exercises to full course work and certification testing to earn 42 different professional designations.
Related: Michigan establishes a roadmap for cybersecurity readiness.
Merit Network, by the way, is quite unique. The Ann Arbor-based nonprofit began as a partnership among three state universities in 1966 and is one of the original building blocks of the Internet. Today Merit supplies IT infrastructure to schools, universities, government and other entities across the state. For a drill down on Merit, and its role supplying Cyber Range infrastructure, please listen to the accompanying podcast with Pierrette Dagg, Merit’s director of marketing and communications.
Human scale advances
What jumped out at me on my visit to Pinckney Township and Grand Rapids was not so much the tech gear and the curriculum, which in each case was top notch. I came away most impressed by the dedication and creativity of the program leaders, which clearly is making a big difference on a very human scale.
Ozias
Take, for example, 17-year-old Pinckney senior Aidan Ozias. I looked over Aidan’s shoulder as he typed away on a class project of his design. His task was to lead a team of students in improving the security posture of a fully mocked-up city network, called Alphaville, pumped into his high school lab courtesy of Merit.
Across the hallway, a few of his classmates hacked away, remotely, at the controls of a drone, attempting to knock it out of the sky. Another cluster of students attempted to crack into an Alphaville industrial controls system.
“I like this a lot because it gives me an opportunity to explore a lot of my other interests,” Aidan told me. …more
