Many have been told to stay safe on the internet, but what does that really mean? Well, a password can seem secure until a few pieces of personal information make it easy to guess. A familiar-looking email can, in reality, be a phishing scam. In Pine View’s new AP Cybersecurity course, students are learning to recognize these vulnerabilities before they become real problems.
“AP Cybersecurity is a college-level course that teaches students how to protect digital systems, networks, and data from threats,” AP Cybersecurity teacher Mark Goebel said via email. “It goes beyond ‘hacking’ stereotypes to cover how our connected world stays secure, combining technical skills with critical thinking and ethics.”
Much of the class is hands-on, approximately 60 to 70 percent, as Goebel believes “you learn cybersecurity by doing, not just reading about it.”
Senior Avni Manish, who is currently enrolled in AP Cybersecurity, said students learn by using a program called CodeHS, where they work on modules throughout the week, completing interactive activities to strengthen what they have learned from theory.
“The interface is really interactive, and there’s a bunch of hands-on activities where we get to do actual bot defending on the interface and things like that,” Manish said.
The class covers subjects such as cryptography, network security, system defense, risk management, ethical hacking, and incident response.
Even with this, there are other nuances students must learn to excel in the class.
“Students think it’s all coding and hacking, but it mostly involves knowledge, policy, psychology (social engineering) ethics, and communication,” Goebel said.
Social engineering, one of the concepts students study, focuses on how hackers manipulate people rather than directly attacking a computer system. An example of this is phishing, where hackers create urgency or pretend to be someone the victim knows.
“It’s not actually what the hackers physically do to computer systems, but instead how they think through it and how they can manipulate people by using psychology,” Manish said.
One activity showed students how information shared online can become useful to hackers. In another activity, students received information about an imaginary person and used details such as birthdays, favorite colors and schools to predict possible passwords.
“I liked that it helped you understand the stuff that you put out on the Internet can also help hackers or scammers get into your personal information,” sophomore and AP Cybersecurity student George Gushterov said.
Students also get to experience cybersecurity from different perspectives.
“There was one where we had to try and be the hacker and crack a password combination that AI would make,” Manish said.
Artificial intelligence is a growing part of the course. Goebel also gives lectures about current threats of AI in today’s society.
The course is also designed to teach skills students can use outside of school.
“The critical thinking mindset—asking ‘what could go wrong?’ and ‘how would someone break this?’—applies everywhere,” Goebel said. “Risk assessment, ethical reasoning, and basic security hygiene (strong passwords, recognizing phishing) are life skills everyone needs.”
Despite being an AP course, students said the class is largely self-paced, where Goebel gives students a module at the beginning of the week and expects it to be completed by the end.
As the year continues, Goebel says that “students [will] use virtual labs, penetration testing tools (Kali Linux, Wireshark, Metasploit), cryptography challenges, Capture the Flag competitions, and security audit projects.”
With AP Cybersecurity becoming a new addition to Pine View’s courses this year, the class will give students an opportunity to explore the ever-growing and evolving field throughout the school year.
For students considering the class, Goebel said previous experience is not necessary.
“You don’t need to be ‘good at computers’ already—just willing to think critically and learn,” Goebel said.