TCL receives grant from the City of Beaufort for Cybersecurity program
The Technical College of the Lowcountry’s Cybersecurity program recently received a grant for $136,000 from the City of Beaufort. The grant will go toward the creation of a Securities Operation Center (SOC), which will become part of the Cybersecurity program at the college’s Beaufort Mather Campus.
The funds, allocated by the city and made possible by the American Rescue Plan Act, were recently approved for use by Beaufort City Council.
The SOC will be led by TCL staff and manned by interns and students in the cybersecurity program who will work to evaluate incoming digital information and help protect TCL users from cyberattacks and threats.
The SOC initiative is part of the college’s overall plan to apply for the National Security Agency’s Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity designation (CAE-CD).
“The college is working on an information security plan, as well as policies, procedures and guidelines in order to qualify for this designation,” said TCL’s Cybersecurity Program Director Angel Kern, who anticipates receiving the designation in late 2023. The center is expected to be up and running by summer.
“Having this designation and becoming a Center of Academic Excellence will allow TCL to pursue additional grants to support our Cybersecurity program,” Kern said.
City of Beaufort Mayor Stephen Murray added that one of the main objectives for launching Beaufort’s South Coast Center was to help TCL gain the NSA’s Center of Academic Excellence designation.
“With this grant, students in the Cybersecurity program will learn to help protect the college from cybersecurity attacks, and also bolster the college’s credentials for the designation,” he said. “It’s exciting to see this progress!”
For More Information
TCL offers a cybersecurity certificate as well as an Associate Degree in Applied Science in Cybersecurity, a 63-credit-hour program that can be completed in as little as two years. For more information www.tcl.edu/cybersecurity.