In the News

A community college in western Massachusetts has finished work on a new regional cybersecurity center. Officials gathered to mark the occasion this week as students start to take advantage of the facility.

Following a lengthy redevelopment, Union Station in Springfield, Massachusetts, has become a hub for train and bus travel again over the past few years.

It’s also now home to a cybersecurity center that aims to train local students and others to respond to digital threats.

Celebrating Springfield Technical Community College’s “Richard E. Neal Cybersecurity Center,” state and local officials gathered at the station’s main concourse for a ribbon-cutting Monday.

The more than $5 million project took some 20 months of planning and construction. STCC President John Cook says it led to a 6,000-square foot facility filled with learning spaces and modern hardware.

“… with the complex digital and technological demands of a modern economy, use of and access to a state-of-the-art cybersecurity facility for Western Massachusetts is a key way to remain resilient,” Cook said.

The facility features a “Security Operations Center,” complete with a massive screen that monitors for network activity and cyberattacks. The college says it's capable of providing "real time detection and response to local municipalities and businesses."

Down the hall is a “cyber range” – a “simulated cyber environment for student training and exercises."

MassTech Collaborative CEO Carolyn Kirk says it’s made up of a series of computer monitors with an instructor at the helm, providing an in-depth training space for both students and professionals to learn the ins and outs of a system being targeted.

“The range is a training environment where you can simulate cyberattacks and you can either hack, to learn that side of the business, or you can defend, as if you were being hacked,” she told WAMC. “The students learn all those skills and it's not just students - it's also folks in industry who need to upskill or be retrained, or career-changers … doing one thing, and they want to get into cybersecurity.”

Nearly $1.5 million from MassTech made up the initial funding for the project – coming by way of its MassCyberCenter SOC-Range Initiative.

According to its website, the initiative aims to bolster local cyber resiliency while also promoting the development of a diverse cybersecurity workforce in the state.

The facility's namesake, Democratic Congressman Richard Neal of the 1st district, spoke of the broader cyber threats the country faces, including election interference campaigns involving Russia, Iran and other powers.

Boosting security monitoring and training a new generation of cybersecurity professionals in his district are measures he says he supports.

"The nature of this international threat is going to be very, very serious, and I'm glad that Springfield and the Pioneer Valley and our partners in the educational community are all going to play a part,” he said.

$3 million in congressional earmarks from Neal also funded the project, in addition to ARPA funds from the city, according to Mayor Domenic Sarno.

STCC Vice President and CIO Mary Kaselouskas says about a hundred learners — a mix of community college students and local, early-college high school students — will be using the facility.

The college says about 400 students, including high schoolers, take part in its Cybersecurity, IT and other related programs.

Dakota Ford is currently earning an associate's degree in programming and had gathered with his fellow students as officials toured the center.

“I'm loving it,” he said. “It's kind of really cool-looking, and it's got a really nice cyber range with tons of computers set up.”

Another student, Derek Shepherd, tells WAMC that having a space devoted to cybersecurity and related fields is a game-changer compared to learning in a standard classroom.

“This, honestly, means everything - to trying to get into computer programming, cybersecurity, all of it,” he explained. “I mean, without the resources to be able to learn about it, it's almost impossible for you to do it on your own, unless you're really motivated and dedicated to learning programming. It's a very hard thing to do by yourself so having this facility would really help the people of Springfield, I believe.”

Kaselouskas says at least six classes will be taking advantage of the space - two made up of Springfield-area high school students.