Cybersecurity for the Public Good
For decades, students at schools of law and medicine have gained from hands-on learning while helping outside clients and patients. Now, the “clinic” model has been adapted for the field of cybersecurity. Cybersecurity clinics train students from diverse backgrounds and academic expertise to strengthen the digital defenses of non-profits, hospitals, municipalities, small businesses, and other under-resourced organizations, while also developing a talent pipeline for cyber civil defense.
The Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics (CCC) was established to create a forum for sharing best practices in how to launch and operate a cybersecurity clinic, and to expand this trailblazing new model of public interest cyberesecurity.
Who We Are
We are an international network of university-based cybersecurity clinics and allies, helping organizations in our communities build resilience against digital threats while training the next generation of cybersecurity leaders. We work to advance cybersecurity education for the public good and grow the number of cybersecurity clinics around the nation and the world.
What We Do
Each consortium-affiliated cybersecurity clinic operates independently,b and focuses on unique audience and service specialties. Every clinic has one or more faculty directors training students to provide top-of-the-line services, such as vulnerability and risk assessments, cybersecurity policy templates, incident response plans, penetration testing, ransomware training, NIST and CMMC certifications, and more.
Our Members
The Consortium comprises eight collaborators, with operations in 50 states and on two continents. Our members include:
“We believe strongly in theneed to connect students to the things they’re learning in the classroom with the real world applications of their skills and knowledge out in the world. We’re particularly keen to support and amplify projects that protect the most vulnerable among us, online and offline. It’s one of the reasons why public interest cybersecurity is so important.”
Andreen Soley, Director, Public Interest Technology, Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN), an early consortium supporter
Citizen Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley
The world’s first public-interest cybersecurity clinic, Citizen Clinic trains and deploys UC Berkeley students from diverse disciplines to provide assistance to public interest organizations at risk of cyberattack and disinformation campaigns.
MIT Cybersecurity Clinic
Provides consultation to public agencies or elected officials to assess their vulnerabilities to cyberattacks and suggest low-cost improvements they can make, in part by using the Defensive Social Engineering approach.
Indiana University Cybersecurity Clinic
Sends faculty members and trained students to local governments, school corporations, small businesses, and other entities that lack the knowledge, capability, or bandwidth to solve the growing cyber threats they face, especially those in the Midwest.
University of Alabama Cybersecurity Clinic
Trains and certifies university students to assist small to medium-sized organizations, especially non-profits, to defend themselves against cybersecurity attacks.
University of Georgia CyberArch
Sponsors faculty and interns to travel to counties around Georgia to provide community-based outreach and cybersecurity training to locally based community organizations, including city/county governments, small- and medium-sized businesses, and nonprofits.
Global Cyber Alliance
An international nonprofit organization that develops free, easily accessible tools to address the most common and pervasive cyber challenges.
Rochester Institute of Technology
Computer Security majors have the opportunity to select from a list of cybersecurity-related projects proposed by potential clients or faculty, or they can propose their own projects.
R Street Institute
A nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization, R Street Institute engages in state and national policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government.
Why We Need You
Gifts from individuals, foundations and industry helps us advance cybersecurity education for public good and grow the number of cybersecurity clinics around the nation and the world.
For more information about how to give to the Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics, including through sponsorship of existing or new clinics, as well as student fellowships, please contact info@cybersecurityclinics.org, or visit cybersecurityclinics.org.
