Merritt College Cyber Security Program in Bay Area

I still teach one of the introductory courses on the infrastructure track in the cybersecurity program at Merritt College, then proudly watch what our graduates go on to do with their careers. If you know anyone who might be interested in a 2-year degree in cybersecurity, tell them about this; one of the best of its kind:

The most common gap we see in junior cybersecurity applicants is not knowledge. It is experience. People finish courses, collect certificates, and then struggle in interviews because they have never worked on anything real enough to talk about in depth. So our cohort includes three months of internship experience alongside the training, plus a certificate of participation. The training builds the skill. The internship gives candidates something substantive to discuss when a hiring manager starts probing. Places are limited, largely because internship placements are the constraint rather than classroom capacity. If you are considering a move into the field, or you know someone who has completed plenty of learning without much to show for it, the details are below. hackrowdtech.com/academy #Cybersecurity #CareerDevelopment #TechCareers #Internship

Starting a career in Cybersecurity can feel overwhelming when you’re trying to figure out where to start and what to learn next. I love this roadmap that my co-worker Vanessa Dougan created because it breaks the journey into manageable steps—from building foundational IT skills to hands-on projects, certifications, internships, and eventually choosing a specialty. If you’re a student or career changer interested in cybersecurity, save this as a reference and focus on one step at a time. You don’t have to know everything before you get started you just have to take the first step🔐💻

Cybersecurity experience doesn't always require an #internship at a major tech company. Rommel Christ, a computer science student spent his summer as an IT intern through our Academic Internship Program. He built more than 20 web pages for the American Public Transportation Association website, worked hands-on with SIEM software and penetration testing results and was trusted with administrative access to nearly every tool he touched. He also connected directly with #cybersecurity leaders at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and the Regional Transportation District, relationships that grew out of doing the work well. "A few experiences will stay with me. Visiting the Metro Integrated Command Center. Seeing firsthand what it takes to protect public transportation, both physically and digitally, through their cybersecurity team and viewing all the real-time transit camera feeds was incredible." Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/g86wva-D #Internship #Cybersecurity #ComputerScience

Our Network & Cybersecurity interns joined our technical team from day one, putting their knowledge into practice in a real-world environment. They worked through real incident scenarios, explored complex network architectures, and received continuous mentorship, turning technical challenges into valuable learning experiences. Here’s a look back at their journey, key takeaways, and what hands-on career growth looks like in practice. Ready to launch your cybersecurity career? Stay tuned for our upcoming internship opportunities!

From classrooms to the real world. 🔐 The gap between academic learning and industry expectations can only be addressed through practical exposure. CyberQubAI works with academic institutions to support this transition through practical projects, internships, faculty development, training programs, and cybersecurity initiatives. Because cybersecurity is not just a subject to study. It is a skill to practice, apply, and continuously develop. Together, we can help build stronger skills for a safer digital future. 🌐 www.cyberqubai.com #CyberQubAI #CyberSecurity #CybersecurityEducation #IndustryAcademia #SkillDevelopment #CybersecurityTraining #Internships #FacultyDevelopment #PracticalLearning

ReliaQuest is committed to investing in future generations by raising awareness of cybersecurity and cyber careers through our partnership with Junior Achievement. Through this partnership with Junior Achievement, we connect classroom learning with real-world problems, bridge the gap between education and hands-on experiences, and prepare students for successful careers in cybersecurity. #ReliaQuest #MakeSecurityPossible #Internship #Careers

Cyberster Blue Team Internship – Week 12 This week marked the completion of Phase Two of my DFIR capstone, a full-scale insider threat investigation built around the M57.biz case. Unlike earlier labs, I was given a primary disk image, a raw memory capture, and two USB drive images, and had to work through the investigation from evidence handling to the final forensic report without knowing upfront what had happened. Here's what I worked on: • Set up a multi-source Autopsy case, hashed the evidence with MD5 and SHA-256, and ran a full ingest across the disk and both USB images. • Established a system baseline from the SOFTWARE, SYSTEM, and SAM registry hives, including hostname, timezone, installed software, and user account activity. • Profiled the subject's normal role and working pattern using file system artefacts, LNK files, and Recent Items. • Installed and configured Volatility 3 to analyse the raw memory image for processes, process relationships, network connections, and command line activity. • Correlated memory findings with disk evidence to build a consistent picture of the system's state. • Examined both USB drives, recovered deleted files, and compared timestamps across disk and USB evidence to trace data movement. • Reviewed email and browser artefacts, including working around legacy file formats that Autopsy's automated parsers could not process. • Built a Master Event Sequence normalised to a single timezone to reconstruct the incident from start to finish. The biggest lesson from this capstone was how little any single piece of evidence tells you on its own. Disk, memory, USB, and email artefacts each answer a different part of the investigation. Correlating them is what allows a more complete and defensible picture to emerge. I also learned the importance of being honest about investigative limitations. Understanding what the evidence proves, what it suggests, and what remains an open gap is a core part of credible forensic analysis. Overall, Week 12 strengthened my practical experience with Autopsy, Volatility 3, Registry Explorer, memory forensics, USB and removable media analysis, and cross-artefact timeline correlation. With the completion of this capstone, I've officially completed my Internship with Cyberster. I'm grateful for the practical experience, challenges, and knowledge I've gained throughout the internship. A special thank you to my instructor, Sir Abdullah Zia, for his continued guidance and support throughout this internship. Cyberster #CyberSecurity #DigitalForensics #DFIR #BlueTeam #MemoryForensics #IncidentResponse #Autopsy #Volatility #RegistryForensics #CybersterInternship #InformationSecurity #DigitalInvestigation

The University of Western Australia has brought cybersecurity company Red Piranha into its Global Engagement Alliance, opening opportunities for collaboration across education, research, internships and graduate placements. Adam Bennett More here: https://lnkd.in/ejBEbrzr Follow us: https://lnkd.in/e2n54f5r

🎓 Wrapping up the Cyberster Blue Team Internship — Week 12 Twelve weeks ago I started this internship not knowing exactly where it would take me. Twelve weeks and two full domains later, I can say it took me further than I expected. The internship was split across two core pillars of Blue Team defense: 🔹 SOC Operations — log analysis, alert triage, detection engineering, and building the muscle memory to tell real signal from noise 🔹 Digital Forensics & Incident Response — disk, memory, and USB forensics; building an evidentiary case from raw artifacts instead of assumptions Week 12 was the capstone: a full four-part insider threat investigation — from system triage and memory analysis with Volatility, through USB and deleted-file recovery, to a final forensic report answering the three questions every investigation comes down to: what happened, who did it, and how do you prove it. The biggest lesson from this internship wasn't a tool or a command — it was learning to let the evidence lead the conclusion, not the other way around. Every finding in this report is cited back to a specific artifact, because in this field, "I think" doesn't hold up — "here's the hash, here's the timestamp, here's the match" does. Huge thanks to Abdullah Zia for the mentorship throughout this program — for pushing me to document rigorously, question my own assumptions, and treat every finding as something that has to survive scrutiny. And thanks to Cyberster for building an internship that didn't just teach tools, but taught how to think like an analyst. Full final report attached below. 📄 #CyberSecurity #BlueTeam #DigitalForensics #SOC #DFIR #Cyberster #Internship #IncidentResponse #ThreatHunting #InfoSec