Students learned how to protect their computer systems from hackers at a 20-hour long course at Cuesta College Friday.
The Cyber Patriot Program lets students learn important skills in cyber security and safety.
During the week, they learned how to protect images from viruses and other safety techniques.
A program instructor says the purpose of the program is to teach kids how to defend their systems because cyber hacking is on the rise.
"We have understaffed and and we have jobs that aren’t being filled in the cyber security field and so we’re trying to train as many kids and adults as well as teachers, so we can make sure they understand a lot of the things that go into cyber security, and a lot of times it’s just knowledge," said Ayen Johnson, an instructor.
At the end of the week, the kids cap off their learning with a mini-competition where they have to harden an image, making sure it’s so secure that no one can hack into it.
