PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — As cyberattacks increase, so does the need for people trained to prevent and reverse them.

Four million professionals are urgently needed to fill the gap in the global cybersecurity industry, according to the World Economic Forum.

One Wisconsin school is training the next generation to meet that need.

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville launched a cybersecurity degree program in 2020. Earlier this year, the school opened its new Cyberlab.

Junior Hudson Lapine, a cybersecurity major, said the new lab is equipped with the latest technologies and tools to prepare him.

“It’s a lot nicer facilities and qualities, where in other labs you might not have two monitors, which helps a lot actually,” Lapine said. “Or you might be a lot closer to students, or it’s a lot more tucked away.”

Joshua Yue is the chair of the Cybersecurity Department. The program offers an opportunity for students to test how to access private data, then fix the security gap.

“We are all living in a digital world, right? So, everybody has smartphones,” Yue said. “Now literally everybody can become a victim of a cyberattack.”

This is crucial training for a lucrative, in-demand career. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cybersecurity industry is expected to grow by at least 32% by 2032, and the median annual salary for a cybersecurity specialist is more than $120,000. 

After graduation, Lapine said he hopes to become a “red team” specialist, or someone who simulates a cyberattack on a business or organization to help identify vulnerabilities and improve defenses.

“I really like the puzzle of trying to like hack different things and solve that,” Lapine said. “It’s like a fun puzzle for me to try to solve. I want to try to help create a strong system to maximize that.”