There are now more than 200 women in the Beacom College of Computer and Cyber Sciences at Dakota State University: “Not a hacker hiding in mom’s basement.”
Dakota News Now
Aug 4, 2024
The campus of Dakota State University came to life in the middle of summer break, when more than 100 middle school girls arrived to learn about cybersecurity.
After receiving their laptops, backpacks, T-shirts and room keys, all the girls were split into three teams, each named after a notable woman who works in cybersecurity: Mary Horvath, senior digital forensic examiner with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Computer Analysis Response Team; Jessica Hyde, consultant to Magnet Forensics and adjunct professor at George Mason University; and Cathy Johnston, vice president of mission integration at Peraton.
Johnston delivered a keynote presentation about the ubiquity of cyber. She used major political and social events, such as cyber attacks on critical infrastructure in Guam, as well as personal anecdotes, like the time she could not find a place to fuel her car because of a cyber attack, to stress the importance of cybersecurity literacy.
Though this was the first time Johnston worked with CybHER, she said she has been encouraging girls to get into STEM fields throughout her entire career.
She said the aim of her presentation was to show that cyber “is not a big scary thing” but something that is accessible and necessary.
“I hope that they see that there are all kinds of super exciting career opportunities for folks that study cyber and that they take on some personal responsibility for cybersecurity,” Johnston said.
