BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Governor John Bel Edwards and LSU president William Tate IV, have introduced a cybersecurity workforce development and protection model for Louisiana, and LSU.
“This particular configuration is how we can contribute to protecting the people of the state of Louisiana, and ultimately this country,” said LSU president, William F. Tate IV.
Students will work in the new LONI security operations center, where they will gain hands-on experience where they will be able to see and help prevent cyber-attacks from happening in real time.
“There will be 50 to 60 students working in their shifts helping us to understand the threat assessment in higher education Louisiana, and strengthening our response across the state of Louisiana,” said Dr. Kim Hunter Reed, Chair of Louisiana’s Cybersecurity Commission.
LSU leaders said in the past three weeks, 94 LSU students have applied to the SOC program. They have allowed these three students to get a head start on analyzing the universities’ network traffic and identifying potential threats.
The university is expanding this program with a $7.5 million dollar investment into their LONI-SOC model for more than 30 colleges and universities in the state.
“Cybersecurity talent, innovation are the twin pillars underpinning our nation’s strength and its resilience. And through this collaboration, like this one, we lay the foundation for a brighter, more secure future,” said Bill Rowan, Splunk Vice President of Public Sector.
