{"id":223263,"date":"2026-03-13T13:43:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T17:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/connectsecure-invests-in-usfs-cybersecurity-apprenticeship-program\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T14:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T18:00:12","slug":"connectsecure-invests-in-usfs-cybersecurity-apprenticeship-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/connectsecure-invests-in-usfs-cybersecurity-apprenticeship-program\/","title":{"rendered":"ConnectSecure invests in USF\u2019s cybersecurity apprenticeship program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usf.edu\/ai-cybersecurity-computing\/news\/2026\/connectsecure-invests-in-usfs-cybersecurity-apprenticeship-program.aspx\">ConnectSecure invests in USF\u2019s cybersecurity apprenticeship program<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usf.edu\/ai-cybersecurity-computing\/news\/2026\/connectsecure-invests-in-usfs-cybersecurity-apprenticeship-program.aspx\">https:\/\/www.usf.edu\/ai-cybersecurity-computing\/news\/2026\/connectsecure-invests-in-usfs-cybersecurity-apprenticeship-program.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-03-13 13:43:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.usf.edu\">www.usf.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tampa-based cybersecurity company ConnectSecure has announced a $100,000 gift to expand<br \/>\n                  the Cyber Florida Security Operations Center Apprenticeship Program (SOCAP) at USF.<\/p>\n<p>During the CyberBay 2026 Summit, Cyber Florida Senior Director Ernie Ferraresso invited<br \/>\n                  USF President Moez Limayem and a group of students to the stage to accept the check.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConnectSecure\u2019s generous donation to expand Cyber Florida\u2019s SOCAP program by five<br \/>\n                  seats means more USF students will graduate with hands-on, real-world cybersecurity<br \/>\n                  experience that strengthens their resumes and makes them highly sought-after by employers,\u201d<br \/>\n                  said Ferraresso.<\/p>\n<p>USF\u2019s SOCAP is a paid internship program that trains students to detect and respond<br \/>\n                  to real cyber threats. Participants work inside the Cyber Florida Security Operations<br \/>\n                  Center \u2014 a student-operated center that augments cybersecurity services for USF and<br \/>\n                  other public-sector organizations. The students help protect these organizations from<br \/>\n                  cyberattacks and assist with security investigations.<\/p>\n<p>Tim Kircher, who is a senior in the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity<br \/>\n                  and Computing, serves as a security analyst for Cyber Florida at USF. He focuses on<br \/>\n                  triaging security alerts and providing detailed recommendations to USF IT department<br \/>\n                  to help protect the university\u2019s infrastructure and network.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis program has been instrumental in my development as a cybersecurity professional<br \/>\n                  and has equipped me with the tools I need to succeed in the future,\u201d Kircher said.<br \/>\n                &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usf.edu\/ai-cybersecurity-computing\/news\/2026\/connectsecure-invests-in-usfs-cybersecurity-apprenticeship-program.aspx\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ConnectSecure invests in USF\u2019s cybersecurity apprenticeship program https:\/\/www.usf.edu\/ai-cybersecurity-computing\/news\/2026\/connectsecure-invests-in-usfs-cybersecurity-apprenticeship-program.aspx Publish Date: 2026-03-13 13:43:00 Source Domain: www.usf.edu&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":223264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.usf.edu\/ai-cybersecurity-computing\/news\/images\/2026\/031326-jm-cyberbay-donation-01-banner.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[20,57],"class_list":["post-223263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223263"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223265,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223263\/revisions\/223265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}