Student & Cybersecurity Resources

Last Mile Scholarship

The Microsoft Cybersecurity Scholarship Program supports community college students completing their cybersecurity degrees and attaining industry certificates through scholarships (up to $500) and subsidies for cybersecurity certification exam costs (up to $375). This financial assistance is intended to cover short-term basic needs such as food, rent, health-related costs, transportation/car issues, and/or a laptop/device.

In addition to funding, all grantees will receive a year of LinkedIn Premium and access to the GitHub Student Developer Pack for free.

Students should consider applying if they are:

Currently enrolled at a two-year institution.
Pursuing a cybersecurity pathway, including certificates in IT, networking, info security, etc.
In financial need, as demonstrated by Pell Grant status or a financial aid letter.

The Last Mile Scholarship is not a loan meaning it does not need to be paid back. A minimum GPA is not required. All students with financial need are eligible, and students from groups who are underrepresented in cybersecurity are especially encouraged to apply. The program is operated by the Last Mile Education Fund, and applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Please apply at lastmile-ed.org/Microsoft, and if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to April Curley at april@lastmile-ed.org.

Flyer – Last Mile Scholarship

CISA Resources

Here you can find the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's (CISA) webpage, Shields Up. It offers a catalog of free public and private sector cybersecurity services. This resource, as well as CISA's Insights Checklist, can aid organizations in reducing their cybersecurity risk.

Shields Up CISA Insights Checklist

Student Resources

The National Cyber League (NCL) Competition — Cyber Skyline
NCL’s mission is to prepare the next generation of cybersecurity professionals by providing high school and college students, as well as their coaches, an online, safe platform of real-world cybersecurity challenges.

The NCL's virtual training ground features a competitive process and a supportive community, helping students develop, improve, and validate their cybersecurity skills. Students’ progress and strengths are validated through their individual Scouting Reports and team rankings, enabling recruiters to easily determine the students’ fit for open positions.

Cyber Force Competition- DOE
The CyberForce Competition is the original competition that started the program back in 2016. This is a defend/attack cyber-physical scenario.

Cyber Panoply
Panoply, a Network Security Competition, is a network assessment and network defense competition combined into a single event. Teams of students compete for control of common resources and the critical services on those resources. Once a team takes possession of a resource, they must secure that resource against attacks from other teams and maintain the critical services running on the resource. Teams accumulate points for controlling and operating critical services such as SMTP, DNS, HTTP, HTTPS, SSH, and so on.

picoCTF
picoCTF is a two-week long, timed CTF competition. Challenges increase in difficulty as players progress. While all are welcome to join, this picoCTF is recommended for players with some programming knowledge. Players with no previous programming or CTF experience may prefer the noncompetitive picoGym challenges.

Whether you are a cybersecurity professional, competitive hacker, or new to CTFs you will find interesting challenges in the picoGym you can solve at your own pace. Team picoCTF will regularly update this challenge repository, so visit the picoGym often.

National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC)
NCCDC competitions ask student teams to assume administrative and protective duties for an existing 'commercial' network — typically a small company with 50+ users, 7 to 10 servers, and common internet services such as a web server, mail server, and e-commerce site.

NIATEC Invitational Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition Registration (NICCDC)
The NICCDC, hosted by the National Information Assurance Training and Education Center's (NIATEC), is a regional collegiate cyber defense competition. Participants will be immersed in an environment where they will be required to manage resources and information systems by applying cybersecurity principles and tools to perform the tasks related to system security administration, digital forensics, secure software development, security policy development and compliance, industrial control systems, and the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) framework. Participants will incorporate the information assurance principles outlined in federal policy and standards such as National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) special publications, Risk Management Framework (RMF), Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA), and Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). This competition exposes participants to the above-mentioned information assurance attributes through the CIA triad: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability.

Cybersecurity Entrepreneur Challenge
The Cybersecurity Entrepreneur Challenge, hosted by Boise State University's Venture College, is a ‘reverse pitch’ competition, meaning participants do not have to bring their own idea. Participants will choose a problem provided by industry partners and propose a solution in the form of a new venture. Teams will compete for cash prizes as they solve cybersecurity challenges critical to industry growth while building a viable venture for themselves and making helpful connections to mentors and industry leaders.

Venture College will lead participants through a week-long sprint to test, validate, and launch their venture. Teams will be working with industry experts, business leaders, and mentors to help them craft their venture and pitch.

Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS)
WiCyS — a global community of women, allies, and advocates — is dedicated to bringing talented women together to celebrate and foster their passion and drive for cybersecurity. The organization unites local communities of aspiring and thriving women cybersecurity professionals across the world to collaborate, share their knowledge, network, and mentor. We create opportunities through professional development programs, conferences, career fairs, and more.

GenCyber Student Camps
The GenCyber program provides cybersecurity experiences for students and teachers at the secondary level. The goals of the GenCyber program are to:

ignite, sustain, and increase awareness of K12 cybersecurity content and cybersecurity postsecondary and career opportunities for participants through year-round engagement;
increase student diversity in cybersecurity college and career readiness pathways at the K-12 level; and
facilitate teacher readiness within a teacher learning community to learn, develop, and deliver cybersecurity content for the K-12 classroom in collaboration with other nationwide initiatives.

Wild West Hackin' Fest (WWHF)
WWHF is committed to offering high-quality information security education to beginners and seasoned professionals alike. With reasonably priced training, conferences, hands-on labs, and workshops, WWHF lowers the barrier to entry for those seeking to enter into the world of information security. WWHF also offers a venue for those already established in the industry to share ideas, give back, and continue learning.

Cybersecurity Training Resources

EC-Council
The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants, also known as EC-Council, is the world’s largest cyber security technical certification body.

CompTIA
The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a leading voice and advocate for the $5 trillion global information technology ecosystem and the estimated 75 million industry and tech professionals who design, implement, manage, and safeguard the technology that powers the world’s economy.

Through education, training, certifications, philanthropy, and market research, CompTIA promotes industry growth, the development of a highly-skilled workforce, and a commitment to creating an environment where innovation happens and the opportunities and benefits made possible through technology are available to all.

Infosec
Infosec’s mission is to put people at the center of cybersecurity. As a leading cybersecurity training company, Infosec helps information technology and security professionals advance their careers with skills development and certifications while empowering all employees with security awareness and phishing training to stay cyber safe at work and home.

Through role-guided security training, Infosec's platforms — Infosec IQ, Infosec Skills, and Infosec Skills Live Boot Camps — help individuals and organizations protect their data, mitigate risk, and empower employees.

SANS Institute
SANS Institute empowers and educates current and future cybersecurity practitioners around the world with knowledge and skills through industry-leading community programs, resources, training, certifications, and events.

(ISC)²
(ISC)² information security certifications are recognized as the global standard for excellence allowing individuals to prove their expertise and highlight their skill mastery. Having certified employees allows organizations to be better prepared to protect critical information assets and infrastructures.

(ISC)² created and maintains the Common Body of Knowledge (CBK) on which the certifications are based. The CBK defines global industry standards and best practices in information security.

Cybersecurity Resources

Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity Community (CAE-C)
An educational institution designated a Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (CAE-C) has met the rigorous requirements outlined by the National Security Agency. Designated institutions commit to producing high-quality cybersecurity professionals to safeguard the U.S. national infrastructure.

National Initiative For Cybersecurity Education (NICE)
The mission of NICE is to energize, promote, and coordinate a robust community working together to advance an integrated ecosystem of cybersecurity education, training, and workforce development.

Montreat 360 Competency Statements

Montreat 360° is built to help students recognize the valuable skills they are gaining and equip them to communicate their skills effectively as they enter the workforce.

Crowdstrike Adversary Universe

Discover the Adversaries targeting the industry.

NIST Cybersecurity
NIST develops cybersecurity standards, guidelines, best practices, and other resources to meet the needs of U.S. industry, federal agency, and the broader public.

Mobile Device Security resources to help you identify threats to mobile devices, and security solutions to better protect enterprise IT.

ISO/IEC Standards
ISO/IEC 27001 is widely known, providing requirements for an information security management system, though there are more than a dozen standards in the ISO/IEC 27000 family. Using them enables organizations of any kind to manage the security of assets such as financial information, intellectual property, employee details or information entrusted by third parties.

MITRE | ATT&CK
MITRE ATT&CK^® is a globally-accessible knowledge base of adversary tactics and techniques based on real-world observations. The ATT&CK knowledge base is used as a foundation for the development of specific threat models and methodologies in the private sector, in government, and in the cybersecurity product and service community.

CISA
CISA works with partners to defend against today’s threats and collaborates to build a more secure and resilient infrastructure for the future.

DHS
The Department of Homeland Security has a vital mission: to secure the nation from the many threats we face. This requires the dedication of more than 240,000 employees in jobs that range from aviation and border security to emergency response, from cybersecurity analyst to chemical facility inspector. Our duties are wide-ranging, and our goal is clear - keeping America safe.

National Security Agency (NSA)
Working to prevent and eradicate cyber threats, the National Security Agency promotes cybersecurity education, research, and career building.

National Cybersecurity Training and Education Center (NCyTE)
The National Cybersecurity Training and Education Center advances cybersecurity education in the U.S. by investing in technological innovation, resources, professional development, and tools to support faculty, community colleges, and the workforce.

Idaho Cybersecurity Awareness
Protecting Idaho citizens' privacy by safeguarding Idaho's information, data, systems, and infrastructure while establishing strong cybersecurity leadership, awareness, training, best practices, and partnerships.

Cyber Seek
To help close the cybersecurity skills gap, Cyber Seek provides detailed, actionable data about supply and demand in the cybersecurity job market.

CYBER.ORG
CYBER.ORG's goal is to empower educators as they prepare the next generation to succeed in the cyber workforce of tomorrow.

CLARK
CLARK, the Cybersecurity Labs and Resource Knowledge-base, is a platform for building and sharing free cybersecurity curricula. It includes a model for building curriculum, the digital library system, and distinct curriculum collections.

Cybersecurity Education Resource Dictionary (CARD)
CLARK, the Cybersecurity Labs and Resource Knowledge-base, is a platform for building and sharing free cybersecurity curricula. It includes a model for building curriculum, the digital library system, and distinct curriculum collections.

National Cybersecurity Student Association
The Nation's largest association of cybersecurity students supporting their cybersecurity endeavors through extracurricular activities, career opportunities, mentoring, and keeping them at the forefront of cybersecurity trends.

National Initiative For Cybersecurity Careers And Studies (NICCS)
The premier online resource for cybersecurity training, education, and career information. NICCS connects government employees, students, educators, and industry with cybersecurity resources and training providers throughout the Nation.