In just a few months, a brand new building in Tampa will house the University of Tampa’s new major in cybersecurity.
“It’s a cutting edge major," said Dr. Kenneth Knapp. "There’s high demand for it. Salaries are also very competitive when you consider all of the high profile attacks over the last year with big us companies, you can see the demand is there."
The students will learn how to recognize, track and secure information systems for companies when hackers attack and in light of the recent cyber-attacks on the U.S. government and on major companies like Sony it’s a necessary career.
“They’re going to learn how to penetrate information systems," said Dr. Knapp. "In other words, break into systems that they can find those vulnerabilities and weaknesses so they can better protect, patch and secure those systems.”
“It doesn't matter what article you open up about cyber security, you're going to find people begging for more qualified professionals to fill those empty positions," said cybersecurity major Kayla Harris.
Dr. Knapp says even though the major hasn’t officially started, they’ve already had companies contacting them, looking for interns.