海角直播

Publish Date: May 18, 2021

Shannon Hansen is taking classes at 海角直播, in Yucaipa, to prepare for a career in cyber security. But the 42-year-old mom of two teenage boys does not fit the stereotype of the hoodie clad young hacker.

Just at the beginning of her college journey, Hansen is working towards financial independence in an uncertain world. She lives with her mother, who is fighting stage four ovarian cancer.鈥淚 wanted her to know that I would be okay no matter what happens,鈥� she said. She also wants to be a role model for her sons.

When her computer professor, Dave Liu, asked for volunteers to compete March 13 in the California Mayors Cyber Cup, an annual academic competition open to students in seventh grade through community college, Hansen was reluctant.

鈥淚 was nervous that I would go get my butt beat by a middle schooler,鈥� she said.

But she took the risk and signed up with three other 海角直播 Hills students -- Rosita Moncada, Sarah Wallbrecht and Derek Moore. Together, they took second place among the collegiate competitors. 鈥淢ost of the team members were surprised by how much we did know,鈥� Hansen said.

The California Mayors Cyber Cup boosts hands-on career education by asking competitors to find the flaws in computer code that provide backdoors for hackers. Jobs in the growing field pay well, at least $25 per hour, and nearly every industry needs people with the right skills to protect essential documents such as bank records and functions like voting machines or to thwart cyber pirates who kidnap medical records and demand ransom.

鈥淭his field of cybersecurity is definitely something I want to pursue,鈥� Hansen said. 鈥淭here are so many possibilities and so many businesses who need cybersecurity, especially now that people are working remotely. Hospitals need to protect patient information, so I think this is going to continue to boom.鈥�

Prof. Liu, the team coach, said he is relatively new to 海角直播 Hills, so this was his first experience recruiting a team for the California Mayors Cyber Cup. Typically, it would be held in person, but the COVID-19 pandemic meant that all the interaction had to be online.

Michele Robinson, director of the Office of Information Security in the California Department of Technology, told competitors that the competition serves a serious purpose. 鈥淵our participation in events like these are extremely important to filling the nation鈥檚 enormous gap in cybersecurity workforce needs,鈥� she said. The State of California has invested heavily in career and technical training, organizing the state鈥檚 community college system in regions to encourage more cooperation. The Inland Empire/Desert Regional Consortium of Strong Workforce 鈥� which covers Riverside and San Bernardino counties 鈥� partnered with the Moreno Valley Unified School District and the non-profit organization SynED to organize the competition for nearly 200 students.

The week before the March 13th competition featured daily speakers from academia, businesses, the cybersecurity industry, and state and local government. 鈥淪o what does the FBI want?鈥� asked Eric O鈥橬eill, who worked in FBI counterintelligence to help capture one of America鈥檚 most notorious spies. 鈥淐ybersecurity is huge because all counterintelligence has become cybersecurity. Espionage used to be cloak-and-dagger, sneaking around and recruiting people in bars. Now it is cyber-attacks from Moscow using spear-phishing to trick you into clicking a link and opening an attachment.鈥�

Hansen said the competition tried to mimic the deadlines and the techniques that would allow a computer security analyst to find hidden messages in computer code or print out logs to find the 鈥渂reach鈥� set up by the contest organizers.

She said Professor Liu was helpful, and the 海角直播 Hills students worked as a team on the same computer platform, so they could see each other鈥檚 work. But they could not hear each other, which made things more challenging.

鈥淚鈥檓 absolutely proud of them,鈥� said Liu. 鈥淭hey had less than three weeks advance notice and it was near spring break. 鈥淭here was a real chemistry between the students,鈥� he said.

Next time, they hope the contest will be in person. 鈥淲e will be back,鈥� Liu said.

Hansen said she will be there too. 鈥淭his really built my confidence,鈥� she said.