(Ames, Iowa) -- Iowa State University is recruiting Cybersecurity Ambassadors in a program that's described as a combination of technology, leadership, and community service.
The idea is for the hub (an organization established in 2017 by Iowa State University and Des Moines Area Community College) to enlist volunteer “Cybersecurity Ambassadors.” This corps of ambassadors will help friends, families, businesses, and communities take proactive measures to keep their online information safe and secure.
The program will be officially launched on October 31st in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union on the Iowa State campus.
Doug Jacobson – the Sunil and Sujata Gaitonde Professor in Cybersecurity at Iowa State, a University Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, director of the university’s Center for Cybersecurity Innovation and Outreach, and executive director of the Iowa Cyber Hub – said the ambassadors are going to be an extension of the cybersecurity community.
“I’ve always had this goal of every Iowan understanding basic cybersecurity,” Jacobson said. “But there’s only one of me and 3 million of them.”
With Cybersecurity Ambassadors trained and certified through the state’s 4-H programs, schools, area education agencies, community colleges, colleges, universities and Iowa State Extension and Outreach, the hub is hoping to build a network of people who can promote basic cybersecurity practices that prevent online threats such as identity theft.
Jacobson says they hope to train teens and college students, who can talk to classmates about cybersecurity. He says in addition, they're hoping to recruit adults with IT or cybersecurity experience to go out into the community and share basic skills with Iowans.
Jacobson says organizers are working on special training videos that will be announced at the launch event.
For more information, see https://www.iowacyberhub.org/ambassadors/