PARTNERING FOR THE FUTURE

The first problem that this unique community outreach program is designed to address is the problem of relevance. Prospective employers agree that most cyber security graduates entering the workforce are missing the basic IT and industry specific knowledge necessary to defend their respective environments.  There is also a general consensus that graduates are missing essential skills to operationally manage their defense capabilities because they were not necessarily exposed to these cyber security industry tools and capabilities in school. Yet, entry level cyber security applicants are expected to be prepared to administer, implement, and monitor cyber security tools and defense capabilities that were not generally available to students. This means that cyber security students are immediately asked to work with technology that they were never trained to work with. 

These defense tools are essential to the company's cyber security organization to respond to cyber threats at machine speeds. They require expert proficiency to be effective. However, we find that even in the rare cases where access to enterprise or defense grade cyber defense technology is made available to students as part of their education, they have very little practical experience operating or managing the tools themselves. In addition, simulations designed for education appear to deviate from the risk they will encounter for their future employers and response actions vary significantly based on industry or regulations.

ASCEND addresses this problem by allowing our learners to gain practical experience by working with mentor members on innovation projects and within live cyber defense operations environments and with our DEFEND partners. By intentionally working side by side with experts and with enterprise class deployed defense capabilities, learners are better prepared to DEFEND. This is why Cyber Defense certified professionals, with or without a formal education, outpace traditional students in the energy cyber security and other Operational Technology fields. ASCEND is very different from a traditional collegiate education internship because the CYBER DEFENSE CENTER provides project management of these resources to assist members with augmentation efficiencies and preparation. Our program includes learning objectives monitored by the trainer throughout your learn and earn experience. Nothing will prepare you for a cyber security career faster and with more relevance than ASCEND.  

The second major problem that cyber defense students face is time. It is reasonable to consider that cyber security is evolving at such a fast pace that most of what a student learns is considered obsolete by the time they graduate.  This means that most of what a student learns about cyber security is not necessarily productive.  When coupled with the problem of Relevance, traditional education is not delivering on preferred student and industry outcomes and both regularly question the overall value of post secondary education for applied and technical education. 

ASCEND is a revolution in defense. ASCEND addresses this problem by offering students charitable offramps into industry through our DEFEND program. ASCEND also offers all participants near immediate opportunities in industry rather than awaiting graduation 2-4 years later, as with traditional education programs. This methodology allows students to apply their knowledge and skills as they are learning them (earn and learn) to defend organizations in need. This active application of education is designed to translate concepts to context before they are considered obsolete.