By serving the region with expertise in digital assets and expanding student's knowledge of cybersecurity, the Institute for Cybersecurity prepares students for real-world experiences by immersing them in the industry of cybersecurity, research, and related fields of study.
The Cyber Defense Club
The Cyber Defense Club was founded to be an extension of the classroom. We aim to expand upon and supplement what is learned in our coursework and cover topics that are only briefly touched on in class more thoroughly. We also provide commentary and discussion on current events in information security and avenues for professional development.
Cyber Defense Club Officers
- President – Jack Gavin
- Vice President – Jomari Gee
- Treasurer – Elijah Iverson
- Secretary – Gabe Stier
- Faculty Advisor – Dr. George Li
Cybersecurity Facilities
With state-of-the-art facilities and groundbreaking technology, cybersecurity students have access to the SEMO Cyber Range, the Simulation Lab, the IoT Lab, and Research Cluster.
Additional Resources
- Cybersecurity in Missouri
- Linux Security
- Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP)
- IEEE Privacy and Security
- ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security (TOPS)
- GIAC Global Information Assurance Certification [certification]
- SANS Institute: Reading Room
- SANS Institute [training]
- National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition
- Midwest Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition
- NIST
- NSA
- Department of Homeland Security
Happening in Cybersecurity
The Will to Do
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Learn from Dr. Mario Garcia about SEMO's Institute for Cybersecurity.
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Learn more about cybersecurity at Southeast Missouri State University.
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Mission and Purpose
Student Learning Outcomes
Prepare students for in-demand and challenging careers in cybersecurity and cybersecurity-related fields.
- Provide an ethical framework and comprehensive curricular coverage for students to meet challenges in cybersecurity
- Foster understanding of legal and compliance issues in cybersecurity for purposes of implementation and auditing
- Develop in students an understanding of threat modeling of digital assets, security policy generation, and issues with the evolution of the cyber-infrastructure
- Ensure that students understand cybersecurity best practices and risk management
- Help students acquire industry certifications that are essential in many hiring and promotion decisions
- Provide a hands-on education by giving students access to modern equipment and software used in the cybersecurity field
- Encourage real-world experience through research and internship opportunities
Community Outreach
Serve the region by providing the needed expertise to adequately secure digital assets in connected cyber-infrastructure.
- Prepare graduates to work as embedded security professionals, security compliance auditors, kernel security engineers, system vulnerability analysts, FPGA security engineers, information systems security professionals, senior system managers, system administrators, network managers, and network security analysts
- Prepare graduates to design and implement secure cyber-infrastructures, analyze, and formulate cybersecurity policies and counteract cyber threats in a professional organization
- Adequately train graduates to ensure that they are able to formulate, update, and communicate short- and long-term organizational cybersecurity strategies and policies and to take on other cybersecurity challenges presented to them
- Create workshops, certificate programs, and/or degree options that provide established professionals an opportunity to learn cybersecurity concepts
- Provide information to the community on topics relating to cybersecurity and cybersecurity activities at Southeast
Knowledge Expansion
Expand the cybersecurity knowledge base by performing cutting-edge research, contributing to standards, and publishing findings.
- Ensure faculty have the needed resources and encouragement to research cybersecurity topics such as embedded security, device security and networks, protection of digital assets, threat modeling, cloud security, smart grid security, intrusion detection and prevention, reverse engineering, applied cryptography, security process engineering, compliance auditing, computer forensics, and system recovery
- Encourage undergraduate and graduate research
- Establish research centers and connections to other educational, business, and governmental institutions to expand our research opportunities
- Vet standards produced by bodies such as IEEE, 3GSM, OWASP, PCI DSS, Smart Grid
- Publish known attack signatures into open-source intrusion detection systems
- Publish findings on software security bugs into the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
- Participate in open-source cybersecurity projects like Globus Foundation, OWASP, and others
Hear from our Faculty
"The Institute of Cybersecurity was created responding to a national need to have people train in cybersecurity, people helping to defend the national infrastructure, since the attacks are continuous at the local level, national level, international level. … So, we'll be helping our community, our own state at the national level, preparing the students in cybersecurity."
Dr. Mario Garcia, Director, Institute of Cybersecurity

Cape Girardeau, MO 63701