When Monroe native Hannah Brown came to the University of Georgia, she was interested in technology and was drawn to cybersecurity, but was unsure of how her interests in people would align with the strong emphasis on technical knowledge.
Four years later, shortly before graduation, Brown was leading a team of cybersecurity interns in the UGA CyberArch program.
In that role, she was managing the program’s monthly webinar series, editing a cybersecurity risk review and preparing a presentation about UGA CyberArch for a K-12 cybersecurity conference.
Through the UGA CyberArch program, Brown learned that the technical side of cybersecurity isn’t the only way to make an impact. While CyberArch gave her the knowledge and skills to work in cybersecurity, Brown said it was collaborating, working in teams, solving problems and exchanging ideas that won her over.
“I fell in love with cybersecurity through UGA CyberArch,” says Brown, who majored in Management Information Systems in the Terry College of Business. “I really enjoyed helping organizations work through their cybersecurity gaps and find solutions to help them become more secure.”
UGA CyberArch interns receive experiential learning credit by applying classroom knowledge to real-world cybersecurity challenges. Housed at the UGA Institute of Government, UGA CyberArch provides students with the practical experience they need to stand out as a job candidate.
Brown served as the project lead for the program’s monthly webinar and speaker series and as a team leader for cybersecurity risk reviews. Those roles allowed her to cultivate administrative, planning and leadership skills within the cybersecurity realm.
“With CyberArch you really dive into what cybersecurity is and get real-world experience. That is so valuable,” says Brown. “Even though my classes provided a great foundation for cybersecurity knowledge, without CyberArch I don’t think I would have realized what I wanted to be doing after graduation.”
Brown began working in June as an associate in the Alpharetta office of Coalfire, a cybersecurity services and solutions company, where she’s part of a team that works with specific security frameworks. The frameworks are a set of guidelines and best practices developed to help organizations manage and mitigate cybersecurity risks.
Through the program, UGA students, like Brown, get valuable workforce experience conducting cybersecurity risk reviews with community partner organizations in Georgia. The process includes questionnaire responses, an on-site visit with the partner organization and a final report with security recommendations, providing approximately $70,000 to $210,000 of total value to the partner organizations working with the seven CyberArch teams over a semester. The partner organizations, which include K-12 school systems, local governments, rural hospitals and small businesses, get these valuable services at no cost.
Students can then use their CyberArch experience to get jobs—a few were hired through the connections with partner organizations. Some students have secured other internships, while others are expanding their expertise in graduate school.
Despite the growth in education and training programs like CyberArch, job demand in cybersecurity continues to surpass supply. Nearly 225,000 more workers are needed to fill the available cybersecurity job openings in the U.S., according to the data from CyberSeek. Georgia has about 15,000 job openings—the ninth-most in the country.
UGA CyberArch is working to help Georgia close the gap.
“Through UGA CyberArch, the University of Georgia is creating the skilled cybersecurity workforce that Georgia and its communities need,” says program coordinator Mark Lupo. “These efforts exemplify UGA’s commitment of service to the state as its flagship land-grant and sea-grant institution.”
In the last three years, the program has grown from eight interns to 36 interns—plus two graduate assistants. In addition, there’s a list of almost 100 students waiting to get into the program. A $500,000 grant from Google last year helped fund more internships.
Recent UGA graduate Iyanna Yapo, of Lilburn, spent two years in UGA CyberArch, serving as a team leader for two semesters and a project leader for two semesters. She also helped launch the Women in Cybersecurity chapter at UGA, serving as the event coordinator.
Like Brown, Yapo said her time in the program played a big part in being hired as a technology analyst. She said the companies that interviewed her especially were impressed with the leadership skills she developed in UGA CyberArch.
Yapo, who graduated from the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences with a degree in computer science, also learned how important communication is in cybersecurity. Good communication skills help articulate ideas to co-workers and understand the needs of the client. That’s why Yapo found the site visits so invaluable, because they provided the face-to-face interaction that students can’t get in the classroom.
“I think the main thing I learned from the site visits was how to communicate effectively in a professional work environment,” she says. “The CyberArch program prepared me and was a really valuable and rewarding experience.”