Southern cyber security could be threatened by vulnerabilities unlike the rest of the nation. Simultaneously, the South is producing the next generation of cyber security professionals with cyber programs at universities such as the University of Alabama Birmingham.
“Southern states have the most open exposures that could be exploited by hackers and cyberattacks, according to a report published last week. Researchers from cybersecurity services firm Securin determined a region’s security and attack surfaces by passively scanning and analyzing the 50 states’ government domains and associated websites, web applications, APIs, domain routing and certificates that are exposed to the internet.” (GCN).
With these special vulnerabilities, it's especially important that education takes place. Universities in the South are already taking steps to improve the cyber security professional field.
“UAB has numerous opportunities for cybersecurity students to learn both inside and outside the classroom, which begins with the computer science department’s core research focus on cybersecurity. The department is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Homeland Security, Google, Facebook, and Amazon.” (Fortune).
The number of vulnerabilities that the South faces is vast, with many issues coming to fruition from the Securin report.
“The South also has 778 unpatched Known Exploited Vulnerabilities as defined by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, according to a joint study by cybersecurity companies Cyber Security Works (CSW), Ivanti, Cyware and Securin. Those KEVs have been exploited in the past and have federal guidelines for remediation.” (GCN).
Tech jobs won’t be in the minority for students graduating from UAB, as the threat landscape grows.
“Birmingham is actually a hub for tech jobs. Large companies including Shipt—which was acquired by Target in 2018 for $550 million—is headquartered in the city. PNC Financial Services Group also has a major presence in Birmingham, and the company is currently hiring many cybersecurity- and tech-focused roles including developers, engineers, and data analysts, according to job board BuiltIn.” (Fortune).
The South needs a serious rehaul professionally and to continue to educate the next generation of tech professionals if this issue is to be combatted.
“Researchers indicated there is much more to be done to identify and evaluate every threat. The report said that popular network scanners do not detect around 20 vulnerabilities typically associated with ransomware, while CISA’s KEV list has yet to add approximately 131 vulnerabilities associated with ransomware.” (GCN).
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