The School of Information Science and Fusion Cyber  are working together to fulfill the cybersecurity needs of South Carolina. Thousands of jobs across the state go unfilled because applicants lack the technical expertise needed for cybersecurity roles.

“Every manufacturing plant in South Carolina is also a cyber hiring base,” says Christopher Etesse, Fusion Cyber founder, chairman and CEO.

This new collaboration will provide students with knowledge of the current technological tools used to mitigate the risk of cyberattacks. They will gain in-demand knowledge of platforms like Azure, Splunk, Cisco and AWS.

“This partnership will allow us to give our students knowledge of cybersecurity that is constantly being updated in accordance with industry needs,” says iSchool Director Lyda Fontes-McCartin. “We look forward to working with Fusion Cyber to give our students the skills they need for a career in cybersecurity.”

For their efforts to meet the workforce needs of the cybersecurity industry,  DCA Live recently recognized Fusion Cyber with a 2025 AI & Cyber Leadership Award.

Every manufacturing plant in South Carolina is also a cyber hiring base.

-- Christopher Etesse

Benefits of the collaboration

“When I talk to chief information security officers, they tell me that the students applying for jobs in their organizations don’t have enough hands-on keyboard skills,” says Etesse. “We’re trying to secure the country, and that was the genesis of our company.”

Experts from Fusion Cyber will teach courses in the School of Information Science curriculum. These courses will focus on hard skills needed in the field. By collaborating with an industry leader, the school will ensure that its courses evolve with changes in the industry. The courses taught by Fusion Cyber staff will better prepare students for industry-recognized certifications such as Security+, CISSP, C/SA, CISA, and CEH.

Students in both the cyber security track of the Bachelor of Science in Information Science, which will start in Fall 2025, and in the Master of Science in Information Security and Cyber Leadership will benefit from Fusion Cyber’s expertise.

Why is this training critical?

Many people’s first thought when they hear “cybersecurity” is about IT-managed devices such as routers and firewalls. But there is another side to cybersecurity — the OT, other technologies, side that impacts virtually every industry:

• Water treatment plants have sensors connected to the internet.
• Factories have robots that need software updates.
• Shipping facilities use machinery that is software dependent.

“You look at the ports in Charleston, all of the cranes are connected to the internet. All of the containers coming and going are being tracked by computers,” says Etesse.

The U.S. Coast Guard published a new final rule that establishes baseline cybersecurity requirements to protect the marine transportation system (MTS) from cyber threats on Jan. 17, 2025, demonstrating the need for constantly evolving coursework in the field of cybersecurity.

Potential career paths for CIC students:

• Security specialist
• Security engineer
• Information security analyst
• SOC analyst