Cybersecurity Foundations: Defense, Ethics, and Workforce Readiness

This professional learning session equips educators with the foundational knowledge and instructional strategies needed to effectively teach cybersecurity aligned to required curriculum competencies. Participants will explore core cybersecurity concepts, the CIA Triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability), encryption principles, adversarial thinking, social engineering tactics, AI in cybersecurity, and ethical considerations. Through case studies, threat analysis scenarios, and applied problem-solving, educators will move from understanding basic security practices (DOK1–2) to analyzing threats and evaluating defensive strategies (DOK3–4) while connecting learning to real-world career pathways.

Learning Outcomes:

1.    Explain foundational cybersecurity concepts including cyber threats, encryption methods, the CIA Triad, hashing, availability strategies, and safe online practices.

2.    Analyze cyber threats using adversarial thinking, evaluate real-world attack scenarios, and apply defensive strategies grounded in ethical decision-making.

3.    Design instruction that connects cybersecurity principles to workforce pathways, AI integration, and cross-industry applications relevant to Mississippi career clusters.