At the University of Oklahoma, CISO Jeff Miller has a similar effort going. “In our SOC, student employees take on job duties that give them real-world exposure to cybersecurity roles,” he says.
The student employees use tools from CrowdStrike and Jamf to assist full-time staff with crucial log analysis, endpoint and firewall event inspection, and other duties.
Hands-On Experience Provides Career Readiness for Students
At a time when there’s a short supply and high demand for skilled cyber talent, hands-on programs can help prepare students for such roles.
Students “can mature their knowledge in those skills and actually have the experience of a junior-level SOC analyst,” Speretta says.
In the classroom, “we might talk about how a network works, and we give examples that are built by instructors. In the SOC, they actually see what that looks like,” he says.
HIGHER ED REIMAGINED: Watch how a student-run SOC protects this university’s assets.
At Maryville, students use tools by Nessus and Splunk, working with the same cutting-edge technology they’ll see in the workforce.
“They are developing a level of comfort with some of the industry-standard tools that are out there while they’re still in school,” Gant says.
Work in the SOC “also helps with the soft skills: understanding business communication needs, project timelines, how to relate technical conversations to a nontechnical audience. All of those things help them when they get that first job or internship,” he says.
At the University of Oklahoma, the chance to provide SOC support means graduates are “ready to enter the workforce, backed by a firsthand operational history that demonstrates the qualities and attributes that the industry demands,” Miller says.
These hands-on SOC opportunities also open doors to the IT profession.
“Not all high schools are promoting that as a career option, and working in the SOC can have the knock-on effect of bringing people in who were unaware of the field before,” says Kayne McGladrey, a senior member at IEEE.
Even if they don’t go on to take cyber jobs, “working in the SOC gives them exposure to some of the language and risks common in cybersecurity,” he says. “Then, if they’re working as developers, it’ll influence the direction by which they create things. They’ll at least have security in mind.”
