Virginia Cyber Navigator Internship Program

During the summer of 2022 I participated in the Virginia Cyber Navigator Internship Program (VA-CNIP). This program was a collaboration between six universities in Virginia and the Virginia Department of Elections. The goal of the program was workforce development and to strengthen state election cybersecurity. I was part of a team of three ODU students and we were given two election offices to support. Throughout the summer there were two main projects the ODU team worked on. We started with developing contingency plans for the first election office. The second project was implementing a firewall and VPN solution for the latter office. The work I did for the Department of Elections was confidential so I cannot share the exact documents that we developed. However, I would like to share some of the journals I wrote throughout the internship to highlight some of the experiences.

Many of my skills and values were strengthened while working with the VA-CNIP. I believe firmly in fairness and openness for everyone. Working to keep elections free and fair was a direct way to have a positive impact in those value areas. Additionally, many of my technical skills were tested. Implementing network security features was a way to put my knowledge of cybersecurity and networking into practice.

I mentioned briefly before that I wanted to share some of the journals I wrote during the summer. Over the course of the internship I wrote several journal entries describing my experiences. I think these writings will give one a good idea of the work we were doing without disclosing any sensitive information.

Journal-1

Journal-2

Journal-3