Rose State's Cyber Expert Warns of Hackers and Trains Oklahoma to Prevent the Next Cyber Strike Published June 5, 2015

U.S. Cyber Attack Prompts Reminder of Ways to Keep Your Data Safe

In a computer room on the Rose State College campus, the clicking of fingers on keyboards echoes while Professor Ken Dewey instructs students. They are learning techniques to fight cyber crime and how to be the attacker.

This type of training is timely as 4 million current and former federal employees are learning their personal data may have been compromised after an attack on the cyber infrastructure at the Office of Personnel Management.

“Hackers are targeting our networks all the time,” said Ken Dewey, Director and Professor of Rose State’s Cyber Security program. “A major problem with the latest attack was that the attackers used different signatures which makes it very hard to detect.” Dewey states that it has been said international countries have been training hackers to actively target U.S. networks for years.

Meanwhile, Dewey states there are things you can do to make yourself less of a target. His tips include:

CYBER SAFETY TIPS

• Change your passwords frequently and never use the same password on multiple accounts.
• Never re-use a password.
• Check your bank and credit card statements regularly.
• Keep your antivirus and computer updated.
• Don’t ever click on a website link before asking yourself “Could this possibly be fake or harm me in any way?”
• Don’t give your password to anyone, not even tech support. Nobody should ever ask for your password.
• Monitor your credit report yearly.

Other places to find tips on protecting yourself can be accessed at the Federal Trade Commission at http://www/ftc.gov/idtheft.

Rose State is the only community college in the nation that provides all areas of federal cyber certification. This means Rose State students are in very high demand. Many Rose State students have gone on to work for government agencies such as the CIA, FBI, Department of Defense, FAA as well as companies like Dell Computers, Chesapeake Energy and Devon Energy.

The program currently has 250 declared majors in cyber security and is growing every semester.

Dewey is constantly looking for new recruits. With a grant from the National Science Foundation qualified individuals can be a part of the program for no cost.