Abacode participated in a collaborative teaching session to provide Cybersecurity Investigator Badge Training for the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida.

“Thanks to everyone who attended and to all of our volunteers. The girls were all very engaged and asked insightful questions. I was truly impressed! Now, the question is: how do we keep these fourth and fifth-graders on the path to a Cybersecurity career?”
– Jeremy Rasmussen

The Girl Scouts of America recently added three new cybersecurity badges for girls, one of which is the Cyber Investigator badge. This badge requires girls to do the following:

Create and crack a shift cipher code

Find out how device updates can help your security

Explore identity theft

Find out what to do if your identity is stolen

Investigate if a message is real or fake

As soon as Abacode learned about the new cybersecurity badges, we reached out to the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida to get connected and offer our expertise in conducting a training seminar. Along with the University of South Florida and Cyber Florida, Abacode developed and delivered the inaugural training that went over very well. Upon completion, each participant received a certificate that she could present at the Girl Scout store to get the badge.

It is a passion of Abacode’s executive leadership to see more young women get into Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and in cybersecurity in particular – where women are generally underrepresented. This community outreach is part of Abacode’s larger efforts, that also include the Great American Teach-in, Gen Cyber, Cyber Summer Camp, USF Whitehatters Computer Security Club, USF Computer Science & Engineering Advisory Board, USF Education College Cybersecurity Advisory Board, USF Information Technology Advisory Board, Women in Technology International (WITI), and other initiatives to reach young women in STEM and help guide them toward a career path in cybersecurity.

Abacode also spoke at the Great American Teach-in at Sligh Middle Magnet School for the second consecutive year. While Sligh has a magnet program for medical STEM careers, Abacode’s presentation on careers in cybersecurity was eagerly received, and the students showed their aptitude for understanding and breaking cryptographic ciphers.

To learn more about Abacode’s services, check out our MCCP Core service, which efficiently manages all of your cyber security  & compliance needs in one program.