TROY – Walsh College is offering a Fundamentals of Automotive Cybersecurity course in this upcoming Spring Term that starts the first week of April, the first academic program in the country teaching automotive cybersecurity.
The 11-week long, three-hour class, will be taught by Sam Abbott-McCune, an expert in automotive and military vehicle technology. The first class will be taught at the Walsh College Cyber Lab Tuesday April 4 from 6 to 9 pm.
“The course is not specific to any vehicle,” said Barbara Ciaramitaro,
Director, Center for Cybersecurity Leadership Walsh College. “It is a generic, open source auto cyber security course. We have even developed our own simulators.”
“I have been advised by both Kevin Harnett of the US Department of Transportation, and Karl Heimer of the MEDC and who has run the SAE/Battelle Cyber Auto Challenge for years, that we are the first academic program in the country teaching automotive cybersecurity. We are very proud of supporting the Motor City in this effort and helping to build the needed workforce in Michigan.”
Ciaramitaro said the goal is to teach undergraduate students enough about the challenges to complete a Penetration Test Proposal to see which vehicles are vulnerable to cyber hackers. She said Michigan auto makers and suppliers are struggling hard now to gain this expertise.
“Walsh College’s focus is business,” she said. “We’re doing this to serve our business customers and students. We’ll be studying cyber physical systems and sensors. Engineering, IT and cyber are an emerging arena.”
She said the three-credit hour course – IT450 – costs $1,320. The maximum class size is 25 and sign up is on a first-come, first-served basis. It is open to Walsh students, and alumni. If someone is neither, they need to contact her to gain admission, she said.
For more details, contact Ciaramitaro at [email protected]
(Office) 248 823-1128