Cybersecurity - Certified Ethical Hacking

Preparation in the Knowledge Skills and Abilities (KSA) required to attack systems (red team), defend systems (blue team), or combinations of the two (purple team.) Program includes participation in competitions such as the National Cyber League (NCL) or other industry recognized set of interactive cybersecurity scenarios where entrants are required to demonstrate these KSA.  Competition reports provide an advantage to program participants in securing employment in the field, serving as scouting reports for employers recruiting individuals into Information Security (InfoSec) careers. The hands-on assignments are intended to give students the experience with sophisticated intrusion efforts. This certificate indicates a candidate has studied security issues and participated in interactive scenarios and competition to sharpen skills in this area.

The expected capacity for this program is 28 students each semester for a total of56.  If we use the average CIS course completion of 73% for Merritt College, we estimate approximately 41 annual completers for this program.

Cybersecurity – Certified Ethical Hacking is an entry level program designed to be completed within one year enabling the graduate to start their own consulting service or work as part of a larger Cybersecurity incident response team under experienced guidance or leadership. The entry level “Cybersecurity – Ethical Hacking” is stackable; serving as the foundation for the Application Security award or the Infrastructure Security award. The courses in this program are scheduled in 6-week sessions, which permits completion of the entire course sequence within one semester. This provides a clear path for longer term programs while permitting the graduate begin earning prevailing wages as a Certified Ethical Hacking Technical Professional after completing only two (2) semesters of course work.

The Certified Ethical Hacking certificate aligns with the EC Ethical Hacking Associate occupational certificate. It also aligns with the California Department of Industrial Relations (CA-DIR) Cybersecurity Technician Apprenticeship. Merritt is a Local Education Agency(LEA) for Rightvarsity Technology Workforce Immersion, LLC. Students can apply for this apprenticeship through RightVarsity  which holds both the federal Registered Apprenticeship and the Alameda County registered apprenticeship. The Alameda County Cybersecurity Apprenticeship is open for application to residents 18 years of age or older who have a High School, General Equivalency Diploma (GED), or other equivalency certification.

To qualify for the Cybersecurity - Certified Ethical Hacking Certificate of Achievement,students must complete 16-18 units of required core Cybersecurity courses including:Information System Security, Hacker Techniques Exploits and Incident Handling,and Computer Forensics Fundamentals. It also requires participation in interactive ethical hacking scenarios which includes interactive demonstration of core Cybersecurity Knowledge Skills and Abilities (KSA). These scenarios may be found in competitions such as those hosted by National Cyber League (NCL), Cyberpatriots, Cyberdefenders, SANS Cyber Fast Track, and similar competitions.

Course	Title	Units	Year/Semester (Y1 or S1)
CIS 5 or	Introduction to Computer Science	5	S1
CIS 6 or	Introduction to Programming	5	S1
CIS 7 or	Control Structures and Objects	4	S1
CS 20	Python Application Programming	3	S1
CIS 71 and	Introduction to Information Systems Security	3	S1
CIS 72 and	Systems and Network Administration	3	S1
CIS 55 and	Hacker Techniques, Exploits, and Incident Handling	3	S2
CIS 60 and	Computer Forensics Fundamentals	3	S2
CIS 247	Information Systems Skills Challenge	1	S2

This is part of Merritt College Equity framework. The goal is providing pathways into Tech Careers where the student can quickly begin earning prevailing wages or start their own business.

CCSF has a Network Security program that also aligns to the Certified Ethical Hacker certification exam.