IRVING – An email threat pushed police in Dallas to beef up patrols around a couple of school campuses Thursday, though the threat was determined to be a hoax.
Not too far away in the City of Irving, some students from Singley Academy are learning how to identify, investigate, and prevent cyber-attacks like those that have been targeting major cities across the country this week.
"You're going to be able to learn how to go about protecting this country from any kind of attacks," instructor Ronny Potts explained to a group of students during a recruiting demonstration at Lamar Middle School.
Tenth grader Hamza Abdallah is among students in Irving Independent School District's Career and Technical Program for Homeland Security and Cyber Security.
"They teach us how to safely use social networks and they teach us how to keep our networks from being compromised," Abdallah said.
The cyber security concentration is a new addition to Singley's School of Law and Public Service this year.
"They're constant on that watch," said instructor Ronald Bragg. "Where is the next threat coming from? How can they defend against it, and what's the best way to protect yourself?"
The instructors include experts in technology and a former federal agent. They say the students selected for the rigorous program start off learning basic computer knowledge. They advance to classes in basic ethical hacking.
"These kids are going to learn how to go back and do the investigation side to determine who that came from, what kind of data they may have got ahold of, and then how to defend against it in the future," Bragg said.
The instructors say students walk away with certifications in FEMA, incident command systems, and network security, among others. The teens will be on their way to career-ready for a variety of government agencies.
Hamza says he wants to work with the CIA.
