News
School of Computing Hosts West Michigan's First GenCyber Camp
August 28, 2023
This summer, GVSU’s School of Computing hosted West Michigan’s first GenCyber Camp, a one-week introduction to Cybersecurity for high school students. The camp was jointly funded through a program with the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) that was designed to teach high school students safe online behavior and fundamental cybersecurity skills, as well as inspire future careers in cybersecurity.
The students learned primary cybersecurity concepts through hands-on activities, including network scanning, system hardening, and password cracking. The students were given small, low-powered computers called Raspberry pi devices on which they learned to program.
“The students really seemed to enjoy the hands-on approach to learning cybersecurity, and it was exciting to see their level of engagement,” said Dr. Andrew Kalafut, Camp Director.
Another popular activity was experimenting in the School of Computing’s recently opened Cyber Threat Range.
“They were able to learn to ‘think like attackers’ in a safe environment. They got to defend and attack systems while learning about the everyday threats systems experience,” said Ira Woodring, School of Computing professor, and the GenCyber K12 Coordinator.
The campers also had the privilege of learning about real-life cybersecurity scenarios hearing from two experts: Phil Keibler, the Chief Information Security Officer at Meijer, and Evelyn Bremer, a security engineer at Gordon Food Service and GVSU Computing alumnus. Keibler talked about the security challenges industry faces, and Bremer explained exactly what security engineers do to address them.
“These students are growing up in a world in which risks to their privacy and security are ever-present and they need knowledge and tools to protect themselves, their families, and society as a whole,” Ira Woodring said.
Thank you to everyone who made GVSU’s 2023 GenCyber Camp possible, including: Director, Andrew Kalafut; Lead Instructor, Xinli Wang; K12 Coordinator, Ira Woodring; and Instructors, Mostafa El Said, Samah Mansour, and Sara Sutton.