Photo caption: Rhiannon Holley, chair of FTCC Systems and Security Analysis department; NCDIT IT security and compliance specialist Kelsey Harris Locklear; and ESRMO interns Eric Risher and Samuel Abling participated in a panel at Fayetteville Technical Community College on Oct. 28.
North Carolina needs a strong cybersecurity workforce to protect state IT systems and residents’ data. The N.C. Department of Information Technology’s Enterprise Security and Risk Management Office is building the next generation of cyber defenders through internships, education partnerships, and hands-on training.
Developing this workforce requires employers and educators to work in step.
Deputy State Chief Information Security Officer Jennifer Fix and Jennifer Medina, a former intern now working for ESRMO, discussed NCDIT’s experience with internships at the N.C. Community College System Conference on DATE. Fix shared what employers look for in interns and stressed ongoing coordination with education partners.
ESRMO has 18 interns who support the Security Operations Center in detecting and preventing cyberthreats to the state’s IT systems.
Those internships extend beyond the job and into the community. At a panel at Fayetteville Technical Community College on Oct. 28, ESRMO interns Eric Risher and Samuel Abling heard from IT security and compliance specialist Kelsey Harris Locklear and Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt and connected with state leaders and working professionals.
ESRMO intern Rachel Soubier, a University of North Carolina Wilmington student, joined Fix on DATE for a Carolina Cyber Network panel on what cybersecurity employers really want. Soubier told community college students and recent graduates how she landed her NCDIT internship and what school did and didn’t prepare her for. Fix described what the state looks for in early-career candidates.
Growth doesn’t stop when an internship ends. NCDIT keeps investing in its professionals as their careers advance.
IT security and compliance specialists Arid Alvarez and Marvin Holder represented ESRMO at Operation Tobacco Road, a five-day N.C. National Guard Cyber Security Response Force training held Oct. 5-9. They sharpened their skills in identifying and responding to threat actors, and Holder was named the MVP of his team in the competitive training.
By investing in talent from the classroom through professional training, ESRMO helps build a stronger and more prepared cybersecurity workforce.
