Port San Antonio’s new toy: A real-time cyber security threat simulator

SAN ANTONIO – The latest museum exhibit at the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology is a new cybersecurity operations center (SOC), which provides students of all ages an opportunity to go through a simulation of a cyber threat.

“What we’re doing here is showing the public what what threats are to the networks, what what the reactions are, the effects of hacking into the networks can cause on daily life,” David Monroe, the museums founder said.

These threats go across the globe and can cause problems in your bank accounts, your electric power, or even your refrigerator.

“This is real data. These are attacks that are being levied against different networks in different countries. There are different kinds of attacks. So they’re color coded based on the type of attack that the they are,” Monroe said.

Since the simulator is an interactive program, it can be a fascinating experience and learning moment for students.

“You need to be aware of the threats that these hackers and these cyber attacks can have on you or in your personal life. So you need to protect your own computers, your own networks, your own appliances in your home. There are national level threats that can threaten our national infrastructure and D.O.D. and we should appreciate those threats and that our governments are working to protect us in those areas. And thirdly, there are a lot of jobs in the area of cybersecurity and a lot of those are in San Antonio. We’d like to introduce those opportunities to children and young adults so they can study it and become involved in these jobs,” Monroe said.


About the Author

Max Massey is the GMSA weekend anchor and a general assignments reporter. Max has been live at some of the biggest national stories out of Texas in recent years, including the Sutherland Springs shooting, Hurricane Harvey and the manhunt for the Austin bomber. Outside of work, Max follows politics and sports, especially Penn State, his alma mater.

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