2026 Virginia Cybersecurity Education Conference

This talk explains the story of how a simple curiosity grew into a full exploit chain for the takeover of a small drone. This explains the thought process, failures, exploit, and tool development that builds to a drone falling from flight in a live demo at the end of the talk.

As a result of attending, participants will understand the thought process behind wifi based exploit development, weaponizing documentation, and cyber physical systems exploitation.

Join us for a fun adventure in drone hacking!

Cybersecurity is the only subject we all agree matters but somehow we keep calling it optional. This session is the argument for why it should be a mandatory subject, and what it actually looks like.

Drawing from work across Virginia public schools, the University of Mary Washington, Virginia Commonwealth University, The White House Communication Agency, Microsoft and Nehlos a Cybersecurity company, this session makes the case that cybersecurity belongs in the core curriculum, not as a specialty track for students who already know to look for it, but as a foundational skill alongside reading, writing, and math. The workforce shortage is real. The equity gap is real. Every graduate, will work in environments where basic cyber literacy is non-negotiable. We just haven't updated the syllabus to reflect that yet.

Attendees will walk through practical models for K–12 integration, community college pathways, and higher education general education requirements, along with work-based learning bridges that connect mandatory coursework to industry certification and real employment pipelines.This session is designed for K–12 educators, curriculum coordinators, higher education faculty, and workforce development professionals who are ready to stop having the same conversation and start building something different.

Cybersecurity as we know it today did not emerge from boardrooms, compliance frameworks, or certification bodies. It began out of hobbyist curiosity, from the hacker culture and Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT emerging during the 1950s, the phone phreaking subcultures of the 1970s, and the early computer hacker scene spanning meetups, bulletin boards, and zines of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phrack and 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. Such early hackers were characterized by a drive to understand systems deeply, challenge assumptions, and push boundaries, all qualities that are increasingly difficult to find in today's structured, credential-driven cybersecurity education and professional landscape.

This session invites educators and industry professionals to reflect together on what has been gained and lost through the process of professionalizing cybersecurity as we look to our future. Drawing on the histories of groups such as the Legion of Doom and Masters of Deception as ethical case studies, and tracing the cultural lineage from early hacker communities through cyberpunk aesthetics in popular media, the session argues that curiosity, critical thinking, and a willingness to question authority are not “soft skills.” Rather, they are foundational competencies the field cannot afford to undervalue and can reclaim in productive ways.

Participants will explore together how cybersecurity history and hacker mindset can be meaningfully integrated into contemporary curricula, what it looks like to teach students to think like hackers within an ethical practice, and how the field might recover a culture of genuine inquiry and curiosity without abandoning professional rigor.

Persistent disparities in access to cybersecurity learning opportunities continue to limit participation among students in rural communities. Analysis of national and regional trends in cyber competition participation (an increasingly important avenue for applied cybersecurity education) reveals significantly lower engagement from rural students compared to their urban peers. These gaps reflect broader challenges, including limited instructional resources, reduced exposure to career pathways, and lower teacher capacity in specialized content areas. Targeted, gamified interventions offer a scalable approach to addressing these inequities. By adapting competition-based models into structured, classroom-ready experiences, educators can introduce accessible entry points that build foundational skills while sustaining student engagement. When paired with intentional curriculum design and supports that strengthen teacher efficacy, these interventions can extend beyond isolated activities to form coherent pathways in cybersecurity education.
Findings from implemented programs in rural districts demonstrate the potential for such approaches to increase participation, improve student confidence, and catalyze broader community engagement. Evidence from these case studies highlights how small, strategically designed interventions can evolve into sustainable, community-wide cybersecurity initiatives that connect K–12 education with local workforce development needs. This work contributes practical insights for expanding equitable access and strengthening cybersecurity education ecosystems in underserved regions.

Vibe coding is an approach to computer programming where you code based on intuition, flow, and feel (e.g. ‘vibe’), rather than following strict methodologies or detailed development frameworks.  Vibe coding uses AI to quickly generate executable code from natural language prompts. It makes the practice of software development more accessible, particularly for those with limited programming experience.  Although this may sound incredibly helpful and appealing, AI generated code frequently comes with hidden risks. Vibe coding often introduces security vulnerabilities that may seem harmless at first but can lead to serious problems down the road. This session will introduce ‘Vibe coding’, its advantages, and disadvantages, including potential hidden cybersecurity vulnerabilities.  This session will also touch on classroom awareness and possible use.