NW Valley Times

Grand Canyon University GenCyber student lead Allie Urbaszewski, alongside a high school STEM intern in 2023, recently led social engineering workshops for students in Hawaii. From her location in Phoenix, Urbaszewski engaged with a group of girls through Zoom.

The Grand Canyon University forensic psychology senior taught the basics of social engineering, which involves deceiving a target into revealing confidential information such as Social Security numbers or passwords to commit fraud. Typically explaining these concepts to students in Paradise Valley, she shared her knowledge with students over 2,800 miles away in Hawaii.

Urbaszewski and GCU cybersecurity junior Viviana Pacheco conducted the workshop titled "Stranger Danger: Cyber is More Than You Think" for schoolgirls from Kamehameha Schools' campuses on Hawaii, Maui, and Oahu. The event was part of the schools' Girls in Cyber series.

Both students have had a busy summer working at the Cyber Center of Excellence at GCU while also interning—Urbaszewski as a project coordinator intern for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Pacheco for cybersecurity service ArmorPoint. Despite their packed schedules, they managed to organize and deliver the workshop.

“This was my first time really doing something on Zoom like that to another location,” said Urbaszewski. She usually helps conduct various events at the cyber center but found this remote session particularly challenging due to its distance and timing—a day after a CrowdStrike software update caused global disruptions.

Tim Freitas from Kamehameha Schools approached Dr. Cori Araza from GCU during a professional development workshop about organizing cybersecurity activities for his students. Araza agreed and coordinated with university development counselor Shanay Adams from the Hawaii online team to facilitate the event onsite.

Urbaszewski and Pacheco conducted two sessions targeting different age groups—fourth through eighth graders and high schoolers. Despite initial concerns due to recent technical issues with CrowdStrike software affecting systems worldwide, they successfully delivered their presentations.

Adams played a crucial role by flying to Honolulu to assist in person, ensuring smooth communication between the presenters and participants. “She actually helped make that connection,” Urbaszewski noted.

This collaboration is not new; previous events included technology sessions where students created cipher wheels for encrypting codes under Adams' guidance with help from Araza and STEM student worker analyst Srivatsav Chintapalli.

Araza hopes these initiatives will inspire more students to pursue careers in cybersecurity amid an industry-wide talent shortage estimated at 4 million workers globally by the World Economic Forum.

Further collaboration is planned as Dr. Pam Rowland and Araza intend to visit Kamehameha Schools in October for a family/community cybersecurity event following their successful engagements so far.

Urbaszewski expressed her enthusiasm about using technology like Zoom to reach students who might lack similar opportunities available on mainland campuses equipped with dedicated cybersecurity centers like GCU’s.

“There’s not a lot of opportunities like you would have on the mainland,” she said about working with Kamehameha Schools while reflecting on her productive summer filled with jobs, internships, and connecting remotely with distant learners.

Manager of Internal Communications Lana Sweeten-Shults can be reached at [email protected] or at 602-639-7901.