Amid a steady drumbeat of headlines about major data breaches, Minnesota campuses are rushing to train professionals who will guard against cyberattacks in coming years.
A slew of Minnesota colleges and universities have launched cybersecurity programs in recent years, making it one of the fastest growing higher education fields locally. More than a dozen institutions in the Minnesota State system have started programs in the past three years alone. One of them, St. Paul-based Metropolitan State University, last year opened the state's first "cyber range," where students and employees of local companies get hands-on practice parrying simulated cyber intrusions.
A string of private campuses have launched programs as well, and at the University of Minnesota, which has offered a cybersecurity master's degree since 2012, a new 24-week boot camp is slated for this summer.
Institutions have enlisted some of the state's largest employers for input. One challenge: Companies want these professionals now. But they're also looking to entrust their data systems to workers with experience.
"There is a huge disconnect in the marketplace right now," said Wilson Garland, executive director of the Minnesota State IT Center of Excellence. "The need is so intense, and yet it's a fairly recent field with graduates coming out without a lot of experience."
At Minneapolis-based Dunwoody College of Technology, leaders heard that concern from an advisory group featuring IT pros from Fortune 500 companies such as Thrivent Financial and Wells Fargo. Rob Bentz, Dunwoody's dean of computer technology, says one member made an analogy to basketball players who can run practice drills and study strategy — but ultimately need to face off against real adversaries on the court.
Dunwoody, a private nonprofit campus that has been offering computer technology programs since the 1990s, set out to address this Catch 22 by designing an evening bachelor's program. Slated to start this fall, it will allow graduates of Dunwoody's two-year computer networking program and others to work in the field during the day.
At Metropolitan State and other Minnesota State campuses, programs try to include hands-on training, such as a statewide cyber defense competition in which contestants confront "ethical hackers" from local companies. Contestants have landed internships and jobs at some of those businesses.
