On February 5, 2015 Rep. Ross asked for and was granted permission to address the United States House of Representatives for one minute regarding a new center for cybersecurity:
“Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to bring to the attention of my colleagues an important event taking place this Friday in the 15th Congressional District of Florida which I have the privilege to represent.
With the opening of the Florida Center for Cybersecurity on the campus of the University of South Florida, also known as USF, in Tampa this Friday, our State marshals the strength of all of Florida’s public universities to respond to our Nation’s cybersecurity workforce needs.
The center will help develop the next generation of technology to prevent cyber attacks and provide a resource for Florida businesses to help them prevent and, if necessary, respond to cyber threats.
I want to congratulate the board of governors for our State university system, our Florida State Legislature, and our Florida Governor for recognizing the critical importance of the growing cyber threat to Florida residents and businessowners throughout the world. These leaders are doing something about that threat by establishing the Florida Center for Cybersecurity.
They recognized that with our growing reliance on Internet connectivity each and every day, cybersecurity becomes increasingly more vital. Cybersecurity reaches every facet of modern life, from national security to personal communication, from data storage to banking security, from health care privacy to transportation safety.
In just 7 short months, the center has enrolled its first 100 students in a special cybersecurity master’s degree program. Just last October, the program at USF became only the second in the Nation to be designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance and Cybersecurity.
The center continues to address the serious shortfall in our Nation’s cybersecurity workforce by bringing online degree, certificate, and training programs to facilitate industry-recognized specializations to enhance the cybersecurity workforce, mitigate cybersecurity threats, and attract new businesses to Florida and across our great Nation.
Most importantly, the university will reach out to our Nation’s heroes who have proudly served in uniform and return to civilian life to allow them to continue to protect our homeland.
Tampa is the perfect home for this new cyber mission with its close proximity to the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, and the Joint Cyber Command at MacDill Air Force Base.
The Tampa Bay region is also a center for our State’s financial and health care industries. National, State, and local businesses–large and small–will benefit from the continuing outreach and educational programs offered by the Florida Center for Cybersecurity at USF.
Mr. Speaker, I applaud USF’s energy and innovation in responding to the national and international cyber threat. This is the type of quick and thorough response our Nation needs as we bring together the best our public and private sectors have to offer in protecting our citizens and our businesses from this ongoing threat to our national security, our personal security, and economic security.
Congratulations to USF, and go, Bulls.”
Source: Congressional Record
See related video: USF Florida Center for Cybersecurity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuXOYvUFpwo
See video: Careers in Cybersecurity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhIp3b8iGm4
See related video: How Do You Start Your Career in Cybersecurity? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpGOQipxT4w
Military related careers in CyberDefense:
See video: Cyber Defense – Military Training for Cyber Warfare, Full Length Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnnvVnsDCGw
See video:Peter Warren Singer, “Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0SXO5KUZIo
See video: Clear and Present Danger: Cyber-Crime; Cyber-Espionage; Cyber-Terror; and Cyber-War https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fawN4OZEt-Y