HIGH POINT, N.C., June 6, 2019 – High Point University has been ranked No. 3 in North Carolina and No. 84 in the nation in the 2019 Governor’s Cybersecurity Talent Competition.
Cyber FastTrack is a free online cybersecurity program for college students and graduates. Through online challenges, quizzes, exams and tutorials, students learn disciplines that include forensics, intrusion detection, security operations, system and network penetration testing and application penetration testing.
Five HPU students made the quarter finals and are now competing for $2.5 million in scholarships. Top performing students could earn a Cyber Honors Academy Scholarship for further study with leading cybersecurity company, SANS, introductions to top employers including Vanguard, Fannie Mae, CISCO and Idaho National Laboratory, real-life cybersecurity experience to include on their resume, mock interviews with leading companies to prepare students for the workforce, and internship opportunities.
“Cybersecurity skills are in high demand,” says Dr. Michael Oudshoorn, founding dean of HPU’s Webb School of Engineering. “With this high demand for talent comes high salaries. We are extremely proud of the performance of the HPU students and look forward to a stronger performance in the future as our cybersecurity concentration within the computer science degree continues to be developed.”
The five HPU students successfully completed “CyberStart Assess,” which is the initial tryout level. They began “CyberStart Game” on May 20 and will complete it on June 28. The highest scoring students will then move on to “CyberStart Essentials.” The highest performing students across all stages of the program will be awarded scholarship money.