Why are you interested in cybersecurity technology?

Cybersecurity has interested me for many years. I first went to Landstown High School because of my interest in information technology. This led to be taking back to back cybersecurity classes to introduce myself to the topic and pursue my interest. These two classes were easily my favorite classes as I found the information both interesting and useful, something that many students struggle to find in many classes. Cybersecurity classes bridged me and connected me to capture the flag competitions and certifications like Security+ and GFACT. I competed in as many cybersecurity competitions as I could all while excelling in the classes. Cyberspace fascinates me because it is completely intangible and yet affects every part of our life. Us being so connected to the internet only increases my interest and the importance of security. Systems like servers that communicate with each other as effectively as they do also interest me. Thinking about the fact that hundreds of packets are being sent between several different servers just to find the link to a website and load the HTML onto a computer almost seems unbelievable.

Select four other majors offered by ODU and explain how those majors relate to cybersecurity. (A general search on ODU’s site or on Google)

Computer science, psychology, engineering, and mathematics all play a large role in cybersecurity. Computer science has aspects of coding, something crucial to the functionality of any system. Psychology helps defenders and security analysts protect systems and expect how a hacker will act. Engineering and mathematics go hand in hand with understanding computers and all of the computation they do. All information is numbers, something very fundamental to both engineering and mathematics. Coding effectively requires an understanding of math when doing operations within the program. If a programmer does not know what they need to accomplish, their program is useless. In addition, understanding CPUs and their ability to execute commands is understanding math.