Miami, Feb. 19, 2021 – Miami Dade College (MDC) and Credly, the world’s largest digital credential network, have partnered to issue digital badges at MDC. The first set of digital badges will be offered through MDC’s Cybersecurity Center of the Americas to recognize skills in cybersecurity. MDC plans to expand its badge offerings to other disciplines and departments in the near future.
Digital badges indicate a demonstrated accomplishment or skill that can be displayed, shared and verified online. They offer cross-industry recognition that can be included on professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn and on digital signatures, providing badge earners the opportunity to display previously unrecognized skills.
MDC’s Cybersecurity Center of the Americas is the first College entity to award digital badges.
“We are very excited to offer these unique digital badges that allow students and cybersecurity professionals to demonstrate they have advanced cybersecurity skills,” said Antonio Delgado, dean of MDC’s School of Engineering, Technology and Design. “These credentials will help them validate their expertise defending against the most current cyberattacks.”
The cybersecurity digital badges can be obtained through non-credit courses available to students of all skills levels. The courses, centered around the state-of-the-art MDC Cyber Range that allows students to get hands-on experience using industry-leading security tools, can be taken independently of each other allowing students to start at any level. Students will be awarded digital badges upon completion of full-scale cyberattacks as part of the following non-credit courses:
Cyber Range Course – DDoS
Feb. 22 – Mar. 3
The course is centered around the state-of-the-art Cyber Range, a simulation platform that allows students to face and respond to cyberattacks in real-time. The course focuses on stopping denial-of-service attacks and includes working with firewalls, writing rules in intrusion detection/prevention systems, and performing network forensics. The course requires foundational cybersecurity knowledge.
Cyber Range Course – Web Misconfiguration
Mar. 8 – Mar. 29
A class for those looking to get hands-on cybersecurity training with real security tools using MDC’s Cyber Range. The course focuses on responding to a multi-faceted web server attack and includes investigating SIEM alerts, using Linux tools, and working with Apache servers. Course requires cybersecurity foundational knowledge.
Foundations of Cybersecurity
Mar. 16 – Apr. 22
Geared toward individuals looking to gain introductory cybersecurity knowledge and skills, this course is focused on key introductory topics from the areas of networking, security, cloud computing, coding, and incident response. The class provides the foundational instruction required to take the more advanced Cyber Range courses.
To register for these courses and learn more about MDC cybersecurity digital badges, please visit https://www.mdc.edu/cybersecurity/digital-badge-courses/.