Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
8-2019
Abstract
Today's employers differ in what skills and abilities they believe make for a competent cybersecurity professional; however, they concur on the importance of technical and soft skills, which we collectively refer to as "bridge skills" - in other words, skills needed to bridge employer needs and what higher education teaches. Higher education, on the other hand favors producing a holistic and rounded graduate, with soft skills incorporated into the first one or two years of study. Somewhere between these two dichotomies is a missing link which currently manifests as higher education not meeting the needs of industry relative to cybersecurity education and training. This research traces the role of higher education, offers an exposé on the origins of current higher education cybersecurity curricula, and suggests a role for higher education, consistent with its mission and capabilities, in addressing the ever-mounting cybersecurity menace. This work also attempts to identify an apparent missing link in many existing cybersecurity educational efforts. In order to meet the challenge of an ever-accelerating cyber peril, the authors propose the creation of an on-demand comprehensive framework aimed at addressing extant and emergent risks addressed through the development of "bridge" skills.
College/Unit
College of Arts, Sciences and Technology
Secondary College/Unit
College of Business
Publication or Event Title
ISSA Journal
Volume
17
Issue
8
First Page
18
Last Page
26
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Igonor, A., Forbes, R. L., & McCombs, J. (2019). Cybersecurity Education: The Quest to Building Bridge Skills. ISSA Journal, 17 (8), 18-26. Retrieved from https://fuse.franklin.edu/facstaff-pub/24
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Higher Education Commons, Information Security Commons, Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons