Cybersecurity forum held at Marshall University

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — The new battlefields of the 21st century are in cyberspace, which make cybersecurity important for survival. Monday afternoon Marshall University held a forum on a field with numerous career possibilities.

"The global cybercrime industry is now trillions of dollars," said Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Easterly was part of the forum on Marshall's campus and said foreign governments are part of the cybersecurity issue.

"We have Chinese cyber threat actors who are hacking into our critical infrastructure like water, like power, like comms, transportation, specifically to do disruption and destruction," Easterly said.

Cybersecurity is one of six areas Marshall identified as a worldwide problem the university wants to solve.

"Our students in the last six years have scored in the top decile in cybersecurity and we scored number one in the nation this year for the 13th year in 15 years in digital forensics," Marshall University President Brad Smith said. "As a result, we are now building the second Academic Center of Excellence for Cybersecurity as designated by the Department of Defense."

University leaders broke ground on the new facility last spring.

"It will have 13 labs, academic spaces and mixed use on first floor," Smith said.

Easterly added the facility will help build the cyber workforce and advance research in the field.

Marshall's cybersecurity building is expected to be finished in 2026.