This week President Barack Obama has been rolling out the White House’s strategy to combat cyber attacks. North Carolina A&T is a part of that strategy.
When waging a war against cyber-attacks, you need troops. But the training takes years. Even though a number of hacks have made the headlines lately, it can still be tough to attract people to the field.
“We’re trying to increase the excitement and get more students involved at all levels,” says Ken Williams, a professor at North Carolina A&T
He says a $25 million grant from the Department of Energy will do just that.
North Carolina A&T will split the money with a dozen other historically black colleges, Charleston, South Carolina’s school district, and two national labs. NC A&T’s share of the money will go to fund research and fellowships focused on cyber-security for the country’s nuclear plants.
“Most of the cyber problems we’re having are a result of careless programming. People who didn’t check for situations they probably should have,” explains Williams. “We’re teaching our students what these situations are and how to protect the systems against cyber attack.”
North Carolina A&T is the only one of the bunch offering PhDs in the area of cyber-security.
