Coast Guard Academy Launches New Cyber Systems Major, $1.3M Cyber Lab

A brand-new cyber lab at the Coast Guard Academy in New London is going to help better train cadets and give them opportunities for hands-on learning.

“I was hoping there would be a cyber major when I applied, so hearing there was news of it, I was all over it,” said Fourth Class Cadet Nick Epstein of Elkridge, Maryland.

He’s part of the Coast Guard Academy Class of 2022 and declared the brand-new cyber systems major as his intended major, making him part of the inaugural class.

He’ll be working in a new $1.3 million state-of-the-art cyber lab.

“Sensitive content is being sent across cyber systems/cyber networks at all times, so with how much it’s changed, you can only expect that cyber is going to become more and more important,” Epstein said.

Cmdr. Joseph Benin is the program coordinator for the cyber systems major. It’s the first new major at the academy in about 25 years.

“It’s needed. It’s maybe overdue,” Benin said.

In the lab, students will have an isolated “cyber net” to work with.

“So they have isolation that they’re able to work with real malware. We’re able to have them be attacked in real-time and see what those effects are,” Benin said.

According to Benin, while the academy has had cyber classes for decades, this gives hands-on experience. Students can, for example, configure firewalls and learn about dynamic routing.

There are four tenure-track positions and two technicians for the major, which was so new, cadets weren’t able to select it before “swab summer.” Thirty-one students now have it as their intended major. Cadets are not formally accepted into a major until the end of their second year at the academy.

The room was primarily funded by the academy’s alumni association. The Coast Guard Academy funded the equipment, Benin said.

“You actually feel like you’re doing something and you can see the accomplishment of what you do,” said Fourth Class Cadet Austin Aitken, of Monroe Township, New Jersey.

The ribbon cutting for the new cyber lab is Saturday, Oct. 13. Cadets will start taking classes in there in January.