Tech Mania at Howard Community College

Join Learning Undefeated at Howard Community College for Tech Mania, a day-long event created to bolster high school students’ interest in STEM-based careers by showcasing the technology that is being designed, created and built right in their own backyard.

Our team will be running our latest cybersecurity activity, Who Are Your Friends? An activity focused on internet safety and cybersecurity careers. Social media is all fun and games until something goes horribly wrong. When a joke posted on a student’s account goes too far, graduation privileges are at stake. The social media user claims he isn’t responsible, but it’s up to activity participants to discover where the post originated and who was responsible. Centered around cybersecurity, this activity focuses on identifying the source of a cyber-attack through clues left behind on social media, email threads, and an unidentified USB drive. Students will learn real world cybersecurity techniques and what it’s like to work as a Security Analyst, Security Engineer, Cryptographer, and other careers in the industry.

Learning Outcomes:

• Students will understand social engineering and how it can be used to gain access to sensitive information
• Students will be able to recognize and prevent a cyber phishing attack
• Students will understand the importance of secure passwords and how inference can be used to guess a user’s password
• Students will learn the basics of encryption and how codes can be used to send messages or store information