Cyber Center News
2024 October 29
.-By Dr. G. Roberts
Happy Halloween Pumas!
On Tuesday, October 29, 2024, the Valencia College Cybersecurity Club brought their tech-savvy spirit to Trick or Treat on Puma Street. Alongside candy distribution, club members immersed themselves in the Halloween celebrations with face painting, costume contests, and community education on cybersecurity.
The evening featured several memorable moments, including a prize-winning costume by one member’s child and an impromptu dance session with the DJ. Club members also took the opportunity to expand their skills, learning tips on face painting and Halloween makeup from local artists.
In keeping with their mission, the Cybersecurity Club set up demonstrations showcasing security tools like packet sniffers and penetration-testing devices. These demonstrations sparked interest among community members, adding an educational twist to the fun-filled evening.
The club’s president, Josh—dressed as Darth Maul with a light saber—was a crowd favorite. After the festivities, the group gathered in their meeting room for a well-deserved, relaxed “after-party,” reflecting on the successful event and planning their next community engagement.
2024 March 5
-By Dr. J. Chisholm
Javier Colon, Seth Birtch, and Vincent Lindsay, all Information Security Analysts
with HD Supply, presented “Life in the SOC”. All three presenters are past students
and were active leaders of Valencia College's CNET Cybersecurity Club during their tenure at Valencia College. To give back to their community, they contacted Dr. Jessica Chisholm and CNET Cybersecurity Club to see if they could present what they do daily in a security operations center.
Key presentation points:
HD Supply’s information security analyst's day typically begins with reviewing
alerts and incident reports from the previous shift, prioritizing them based on severity
and potential impact. They conduct thorough investigations into suspicious activities,
analyzing logs, network traffic, and system behavior to identify and assess potential
security threats. Throughout the day, they collaborate to coordinate incident response
efforts, share threat intelligence, and implement security controls. This sometimes
involves working closely with IT teams to patch vulnerabilities, fine-tune security
configurations, and deploy new security measures.
Additionally, each team member has to stay updated on the latest cybersecurity trends and emerging threats by continuously monitoring threat intelligence sources and participating in training sessions or workshops. Most importantly, they emphasized the crucial documentation of incidents, investigations, and remediation actions, as well as the regular communication of security status and findings to management and relevant stakeholders.
2024 March
-By J. Morales, CNET Cybersecurity Club President
Members of the CNET Cybersecurity Club participated in the Cyber Florida Cyber Launch Event geared towards high school seniors. Noah Williams, Vice President of the CNET Cybersecurity Club, and Joshua Morales, President of the CNET Cybersecurity Club, along with Jon Sowell, AS Cybersecurity Program Advisor, and Eric Bobo, Student Success Coach, attended the event to engage with upcoming high school graduates about their post-graduation plans. They introduced the students to the diverse opportunities available at Valencia College. Noah and Joshua shared their firsthand experiences at Valencia College, highlighting their personal growth within the AS/AA Cybersecurity program. They also promoted the Cybersecurity program by emphasizing the collaborative learning environment, hands-on projects, guest speaker sessions, and the weekly labs and Capture The Flag (CTF) challenges.
Presentations about various cybersecurity topics including certifications.
