EICC Cyber Center
Delivering high-quality cybersecurity education, training, and information
Find us on the Iowa Cyber Hub
Eastern Iowa Community College established the EICC Cyber Center, within the academic department of Information Technology, to meet regional demands for high-quality cybersecurity education and training. Our goal is to provide students and the community with course and degree information; links to key cybersecurity resources, news and information; and events that will enhance the cybersecurity resilience of our community.
Our mission is to deliver high-quality cybersecurity education, training, and information that both prepares our students for the skilled workforce and builds the cybersecurity resilience of our community.
Certifications for Cybersecurity
Our curriculum is mapped to certifications, and we provide tools such as practice
exams and a testing center to make getting one or more industry-standard certifications
while taking classes a seamless integration into your coursework. This includes certifications
from CompTIA, Microsoft, Cisco, and Amazon Web Services.
EICC Cyber Center Point of Contact
Roberta Osmers
Student Activites & Resourcess
National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber-Defense (CAE-CD)
EICC is designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) by the National Security Agency (NSA).
Our qualifying Program of Study, Information Technology – Cybersecurity AAS, course content, curriculum, and practices meet the criteria established by the NSA, FBI, CISA, and its other federal partners. The CAE-CD designation is valid through 2028.
The goal of the NCAE program is to strengthen our national information infrastructure by promoting higher education and research in cyber defense. The designated institutions are active participants in setting a high standard for cybersecurity education and producing confident professionals who have extensive cyber defense expertise.
EC-Council Academia Partner
The EC-Council is the world’s largest cyber security technical certification body and creator of industry certifications.
Learn more about the EC-Council
We are also
- A CompTIA Academic Partner
- An AWS Academy
- A Cisco Academic Partner
- And a Microsoft Academy
Want to know more about
EICC Cybersecurity Student Association is a chapter of the National Cybersecurity Student Association. The purpose of CSA shall be cultivating a community that supports students in their Cybersecurity endeavors through extracurricular activities, career opportunities, mentoring and keeping them at the forefront of Cybersecurity trends.
Membership
Membership includes students, faculty and staff of EICC, with voting privileges restricted to students. Faculty and staff attend in an advisory capacity
Current officers
- President: Alexis Diedeker
- Vice-President: Bryce Whitney
- Secretary/Treasurer: Cristian Hurtado
- Faculty Advisor: Roberta Osmers
The State of Iowa's Last-Dollar Scholarship program can pay your tuition, click here to find out more about the Last-Dollar Scholarship.
"Community colleges are the single greatest potential asset the U.S. has in expanding the cybersecurity workforce,” according to a blog post by Brad Smith, president at Microsoft. “They are one of the nation’s most remarkable and ubiquitous assets, and with some targeted assistance, they can move quickly to help address the cybersecurity workforce shortage." From Cybersecurity Ventures
- Cybersecurity Ventures predicts there will be 3.5 million cybersecurity job openings by 2025.
- Cyberseek.org provides real-time data of the number of cybersecurity related job openings on a state-by-state basis.
- CompTIA Cyberstates provides national, state, and metropolitan area tech sector and tech workforce analytics.
Upcoming Cybersecurity Events
Cybersecurity Advisory Board
- RSM
- CipaFilter
- Lee Enterprises
- HNI
- John Deere
- Von Maur
- IMEG Corp
- Kent Corporation
- Scott County Information Technology
- Winsor Consulting
- City of Davenport
- Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency
Cybersecurity Faculty
Ben Bartz is a Supervisor and Scrum Master for the IT Internal Audit department at John Deere, where he and his team perform audits of application stacks and Deere units. He started at Deere in 2016 and has held titles of Internal Control Analyst and Systems Auditor prior to his current role. He will be starting as an adjunct in Fall ‘21. Ben graduated from Western Illinois University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Business degree in Management and graduated from St. Ambrose University in 2017 with a Master of IT Management degree. He has since obtained CISSP, Security+, and CCSK.
Angela Henning is the Department Coordinator for Career Technology at EICCD’s Muscatine Campus, and a Distinguished Faculty Member teaching in the Information Technology program since 2004. She earned a Master’s of Science Degree from St. Ambrose University in Information Technology Management while working in the IT field, beginning her technical career in 1996. Angela holds several MTA and MOS certifications, as well as a CCNA Instructor Certification. She is a faculty co-advisor for Muscatine’s student chapter of Business Professionals of America.
Katrina Raine Morford is a certified IT professional, She worked full-time as a Technology Support Specialist for EICC for 11 years. She taught as adjunct faculty for 9 years and is now a full-time IT instructor. Raine earned Associate’s degrees in both Networking and Programming in 2011. Raine’s certifications include Microsoft MTA certifications in Operating systems, Networking, Servers and Security, and CompTIA A+ certifications.
Roberta Osmers is the lead faculty for the EICC Cyber Center, and department coordinator for Information Technology education at Scott Community College. She earned her Master’s degree in Information Assurance from Capella University in 2010, and has worked in the IT field since 2001. Roberta began adjunct instructing for EICC as an online instructor in 2010 and moved into a full-time faculty position in 2015, specializing in network technology and cybersecurity. Roberta is also the faculty advisor for EICC’s Cybersecurity Student Association.
Samuel Samara is a network Engineer/Manager with experience in Information Technology, Telephony, and Two-way communications. Sam is an adjunct instructor who specializes in Cisco Networking, and has been teaching at the college since 1999. He is the Network Infrastructure Manager for Scott County, Iowa and holds CMNO, CCNA, MCP and VCA certifications.
Cybersecurity Awareness at EICC
Cybersecurity Simplified
Be aware of strategies used by cybercriminals
- Malware, Ransomware
- Phishing, Spear phishing
- Social engineering and fake profiles
If it seems too good to be true or creates a sense of urgency
- Examine URLs
- Don’t open unexpected attachments
- Look at email headers
- Call the sender or go directly to the source
Simple preventative measures
- Use strong passwords
- Don’t reuse passwords (use a password manager)
- Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) whenever possible
- Lock your devices when not in use
- Beware of public wifi
- Share carefully
- Complete information security training annually
Help us protect everyone
- Report suspicious emails, telephone calls, text messages, and any other contact that seem unusual.
- If you’re unsure, ask IT
- If you’ve accidently clicked a link, don’t hesitate to ask for help.
Enhanced Cybersecurity Measures
Protecting you, your personal information and the college from cyber threats is a
top concern at EICC.
In an effort to enhance our cyber security, we are implementing new tools and login
procedures.