On Feb. 20, students in Cal State Fullerton’s Orange County Cyber Innovation Clinic, in partnership with Farmers & Merchants Bank, delivered a practical cybersecurity workshop to 14 nonprofit organizations specializing in education, youth, parenthood, mobility and housing services. The workshop, held in Newport Beach, featured guidance on cybersecurity compliance, cyber insurance, business continuity planning, incident response and staying secure in the age of artificial intelligence. Each organization also received a one-on-one cybersecurity consultation and a review of its digital footprint.
Although cybersecurity is often viewed as an “IT only” problem, the workshop’s theme reframed this perspective to the reality it is — an organizational problem that impacts employees, volunteers and third-party vendors. The student speakers repeatedly emphasized the role of proactive cybersecurity measures in stopping attackers from disrupting the missions of nonprofits.
All OCCIC students are industry certified. The students included Amber Chatton, Maha AlJaffan, Samantha Ahorro, Amough Adluri and Owin Rojas. The workshop challenged students to apply their cybersecurity skills by providing solutions to real-world organizations in real time.
“I really enjoyed interacting with the nonprofits in the second workshop,” said AlJaffan. “Getting to sit down with them and give them personalized feedback on their cybersecurity felt really rewarding.”
“I think the F&M Bank engagement was a great experience overall. It got me out of my comfort zone to use the skills that I have been working on,” said Chatton, reflecting on her presentation.
Students were supervised by faculty members from the Center for Cybersecurity, including Mikhail Gofman, Michael Franklin and Doaa Abouzeid.
“Cybersecurity is the largest threat to every organization in the present, and this won’t be slowing down in the future. Our OCCIC students seek to understand what the frontlines look like, and our partners are providing them with a front-row seat. Such symbiotic opportunities are rare, and we are happy to provide our nonprofit partners cybersecurity solutions at little to no cost,” said Franklin.
“Practical experience is key to entering the cybersecurity workforce, and at OCCIC, students gain it by increasing the cyber resilience of our community,” said Gofman. “We thank F&M for their support of our mission and look forward to reaching more nonprofits in the future.”
“F&M Bank is proud to support strong and meaningful collaborations to bring vital knowledge to our nonprofit community,” said Tiffany Roberts, director of the Farmers & Merchants Bank Foundation. “The students and staff at OCCIC provided amazing and timely content and helpful workshop sessions that will help strengthen our nonprofit businesses to be able to focus on serving their missions. The program bridges the gap between academia and real-world business needs to create a true win-win for our communities.”
