CTEF Cyber Warrior© Camp Offered by Girls Inc.

SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. - July 8, 2013 - PRLog -- Career Technical Education Foundation, Inc. (CTEF) has partnered with Girls Inc.^© to offer a one week Cyber Warrior© summer camp for aspiring 5^th through 8^th grade students with an interest in computers.  Middle school campers will learn cyber security, safety and ethics.  E-learning tools will be used to simulate threats and attacks.  Hands-on labs will challenge students to strategize and collaborate in a team competition.  The first Girls Inc. Cyber Warrior© Camp will be held August 5 – 9, 2013 in Sarasota, Florida.  Funding for this camp is provided by the Advanced Cybersecurity Education (ACE) Consortium, funded under National Science Foundation award 120-4800.

Recent escalation in the news has amplified the critical importance of protecting the nation’s cyber security.  Viruses, spyware, spam, and so-called “phishing” scams lure people into revealing sensitive and private information.  Internet attacks crash popular websites.  Early exposure to cyber security is the best way to get students interested in being safe and secure online.  CTEF created the Cyber Warrior© program and simulated cyber competition with a team of cyber security computer scientists from the MITRE Corporation and certified by (ISC)².  Through (ISC)², the global leader in educating and certifying cyber security professionals, CTEF is able to provide Cyber Warrior participants with the most updated approach to being safe and secure online through instruction led by (ISC)²-certified instructors.  

W. Hord Tipton, CISSP-ISSEP, CAP, CISA, executive director for (ISC)², said, “Our most recent Global Information Security Workforce Study (https://www.isc2cares.org/IndustryResearch/GISWS/) released earlier this year pointed not only to an acute shortage of qualified information security workers but also a longstanding, heavy gender bias toward men. We applaud Girls, Inc. and CTEF for making it possible for young women to enter a field desperate for talented professionals that can offer them a lifelong career of opportunity and rewards.”

Career Technical Education Foundation, Inc. (CTEF) is a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) educational foundation created to work with and influence local educational systems through community and industry partnerships. CTEF is recognized nationally as a leader in building collaborative and supportive relationships between education, business and industry.  CTEF’s engineering program has been recognized as a top 10 national Project Lead the Way model school, designated a Center of Excellence by Pinellas County Schools, and selected nationally as one of 15 PRIME (Partnership Response in Manufacturing Education) STEM career academies in the U.S.   CTEF has implemented cyber security, engineering, and biomedical programs.  In March 2013, the founder and president of CTEF, J. Paul Wahnish, was recognized nationally in the cyber security arena as Information Systems Security Educator-of-the-Year by Federal Information Systems Security Educators' Association (FISSEA).  Visit www.careertechedfoundation.org for additional information.

Girls Inc.’s goal is to inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold^SM through life-changing programs and experiences that help girls navigate gender, economic, and social barriers.  Girls Inc. provides research-based curricula, delivered by trained professionals, to equip girls to achieve academically; lead healthy and physically active lives; manage money; navigate media messages; and discover an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. The network of local Girls Inc. nonprofit organizations serves 136,000 girls ages 6-18 annually at over 1,400 sites in 350 cities across the United States and Canada.  

About (ISC)²®
(ISC)² is the largest not-for-profit membership body of certified information and software security professionals worldwide, with over 90,000 members in more than 135 countries. Globally recognized as the Gold Standard, (ISC)² issues the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP^Ò) and related concentrations, as well as the Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP^Ò), the Certified Cyber Forensics Professional (CCFP^SM), Certified Authorization Professional (CAP^Ò), and Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP^Ò) credentials to qualifying candidates. (ISC)²’s certifications are among the first information technology credentials to meet the stringent requirements of ISO/IEC Standard 17024, a global benchmark for assessing and certifying personnel. (ISC)² also offers education programs and services based on its CBK^®, a compendium of information and software security topics. More information is available at www.isc2.org. The (ISC)² Foundation empowers students, teachers and the general public to secure their online life with cyber security education and awareness programs. More information is available at www.isc2cares.org.
About MITRE

The MITRE Corporation (www.mitre.org) is a not-for-profit organization that provides systems engineering, research and development, and information technology support to the government. It operates federally funded research and development centers for the United States Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  Additionally, MITRE invests in independent research and development exploring new technologies and new uses of technologies, promoting research at the technical edge.  MITRE provides assistance in developing new approaches to producing, distributing and safeguarding intelligence information including cyber threats to our nation’s critical infrastructures.  

About the ACE Consortium

The Advanced Cybersecurity Education (ACE) Consortium is a National Science Foundation funded project based at Daytona State College and seeks to increase cybersecurity and cyberforensic educational opportunities to K-12 and Community College students. ACE has partnerships with colleges in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, as well as with government entities such as the Department of Defense Cybercrime Center.