AKRON, Ohio — Of the more than 10,000 available cybersecurity jobs in the Buckeye state right now, Aalia Haque is studying, reviewing, and preparing to work in one of those positions next spring.
"Technology seemed like a practical and inevitable degree, it seemed like more job security than anything," said Haque.
Haque is a student in the Cybersecurity program at the University of Akron. Since 2017, the cybersecurity degree program attracts at least 100 new students every year.
Dr. John Nicholas surfs through all the data with his students, he teaches several skills, from building a secure network to investigating and addressing cyber-attacks.
"As soon as we announced the degree, it wasn’t even approved by the state yet and almost every business in the area contacted me,” said Nicholas. “We began to talk to them and build advisory boards so we could tweak the degree to what local businesses need 15"
The program's reported 100% placement rate is a clear sign of the times.
Forbes reported malware increased by 358% in 2020 and also said there was a ransomware victim every 10 seconds last year
By no surprise, The Bureau of Labor Statistics calls cybersecurity a fast growing career field in the country.
“We knew that it was going to increase over time, we had no idea that it was going to ramp up like it did," said Nicholas. “It’s the hottest thing going right now, in fact it is a matter of national security at this point."
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
