Students will be able to train for a career in cybersecurity by earning a new Cybersecurity degree at Savannah Technical College beginning January 2020. The College has hired Scott C. Scheidt to lead the new Cybersecurity program. Scheidt has more than 27 years of experience in business and military communities related to intelligence and cyber operations retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Georgia Army National Guard Cyber Mission Forces in 2019. He was most recently the Executive Director of the Center of Applied Cyber Education at Georgia Southern University (GSU) where he also taught courses in Computer Concepts and Application as well as Cyber Warfare.

The Cybersecurity associate of applied science degree program is a sequence of courses designed to provide students with an understanding of the concepts, principles, and techniques required in computer information processing. The associate of applied science degree has 60 total credit hours and may be completed in two years. The degree includes 15 hours of general education core requirements in language arts/communication, social/behavioral sciences, natural sciences/mathematics and humanities/fine arts that transfer to any University System of Georgia (UGS) institution.

The program also includes 45 credit hours of computer science/cybersecurity courses. Graduates will be competent in the technical areas of computer terminology and concepts, security policy design and development and cyber defense methodologies. New courses in this program include: Implementing Operating Systems Security, Network Defense and Countermeasures, Network Security, Computer Forensics, and Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing. Program graduates are qualified for employment as Cybersecurity Specialists, Exploitation Analysts, or Information Security Analysts among other possibilities. For a complete list of courses in the program visit: www.savannahtech.edu/Cybersecurity.

Information security analysts plan and carry out security measures to protect an organization’s computer networks and systems. Their responsibilities are continually expanding as the number of cyberattacks increases. IT security analysts are heavily involved with creating their organization’s disaster recovery plan, a procedure that IT employees follow in case of emergency. These plans allow for the continued operation of an organization’s IT department. The recovery plan includes preventative measures such as regularly copying and transferring data to an offsite location. It also involves plans to restore proper IT functioning after a disaster. Analysts continually test the steps in their recovery plans.

Employment of information security analysts is projected to grow 28 percent through 2026. Demand for information security analysts is expected to be very high, as these analysts will be needed to create innovative solutions to prevent hackers from stealing critical information or causing problems for computer networks.

Scheidt has completed graduate level cybersecurity technology training through a Master of Science program with the University of Maryland Global Campus, an MBA from Touro University International, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from GSU. His military training relevant to this new position includes Port Operations and Security Manager through the Merchant Marine Academy, Army Cyber Operations Planner, Information Operations and Electronic Warfare Planner, and Space Cadre qualification which focused on integrating the use of enablement systems such as UAS’s and satellite capabilities to deliver cyberspace based effects. Scheidt’s intelligence and cyber operations experience includes: senior instructor and curriculum manager for threat doctrine operations at Fort Stewart; senior intelligence analyst/consultant and senior operations integrator for Infinity Systems Engineering, Inc. in Iraq; senior intelligence analyst for Imagery and Intelligence Solutions, Inc.; intelligence analysist/shift team lead for L3 Communications in Baghdad, Iraq. His most recent professional military experience includes: Branch Chief for IT Services and Support for Join Forces Headquarters in Georgia at the Clay National Guard Center; Chief, Defensive Cyberspace Operations Element attached to the 170^th Cyber Protection Team of the Georgia Army National Guard; Commander of the Georgia Garrison Training Center at Fort Stewart along with 20 years of military service with duties related to all-source intelligence and cyber operation leadership.