The Black and White

by Ethan Smitherman

Cybersecurity is a new course being offered at Pilgrim! This is the first year that it has run and it has two active classes. This class is an intro-level course where students learn more about cybersecurity and how it impacts the world around them. Students can either take the course to learn more about the profession or to learn how to defend themselves against the increasing dangers that come with an online presence. As technology continues to develop, it is only becoming easier to fall behind and harder to prevent an incoming cyber attack. 

“We use the cyber.org curriculum, which is a curriculum that was funded by the government and the NSF”, says Mrs. Hudson. This gives students access to a cyber range, an online virtual machine, which lets students use the same tools a hacker would be using. “You have to think like a hacker to protect yourself from a hacker”, explains Mrs Hudson. Something a student may learn how to protect themselves against in this class is a fake website. Internet hackers will create fake websites that pretend to be something they are not in order to steal sensitive information. 

“Another good thing about this course is you also get 4 free credits at URI”, explains Mrs Hudson. Despite not being an AP class, students can gain credits at URI, which is an amazing opportunity to save money by simply taking the class. The credits are even transferable to other colleges, which gives students the choice. Taking courses like this cybersecurity class looks great for colleges and businesses, assuming a student wants to go further into the world of cybersecurity. 

Mrs. Hudson has a personal connection with cybersecurity: “seeing as how we are growing up in a digital world, people need to know how to protect themselves”. She urges students to learn how to protect themselves: “Hopefully my excitement comes through and makes other people, and other students excited to learn how to better protect themselves”. 

Cybersecurity is only becoming more and more important every day, and classes like this help protect the community against the dangers of the virtual world.