Since 2022, I have had the pleasure of serving as a member of the Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC) advisory board for their IT and Cybersecurity programs. In our most recent meeting in November 2025, we began to realize just how quickly technology is evolving within this already fast-changing field. With this evolution come new and ever-expanding technical requirements that students, and even working professionals, must learn to stay relevant. This raised an important question: Are cybersecurity-related college programs still valuable?

To cut to the chase, my short answer is yes, but mindset changes are needed. In the following sections, we’ll explore the current challenges, how to address them, and what both students and professionals can do to stay competitive in this field.

The Problem with Over Reliance on College Programs

The primary issue with relying too heavily on college programs in technical fields is that by the time you graduate, many of the specific tools or technologies you learned may already be outdated or rarely used. Similarly, programs that focus too narrowly on preparing students for specific industry certifications often lead to the same outcome — short-lived relevance.

The solution lies in emphasizing core foundational concepts that remain valuable for years, if not decades. While I’ll focus primarily on cybersecurity, many of these principles also apply to system administrators and engineers. We’ll start broadly, then narrow our focus to more specific, actionable areas.

The CIA Triad and IAM as Foundational Concepts

I firmly believe that security can be understood through the CIA triad: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. Additionally, concepts such as Authenticity and Non-repudiation have been included in many professionals’ minds as critical. A solid grasp of these pillars is essential for any security professional. Without understanding their importance, one’s effectiveness in the field will always be limited.

Building on that foundation, one of the most critical, yet often overlooked, areas is Identity and Access Management (IAM). Microsoft defines it well:

Identity and access management ensures that the right people, machines, and software components access the right resources at the right time.[3]

In my view, IAM accounts for at least 80% of security administration. It encompasses identity, authentication, authorization, and access control — each of which could merit its own detailed discussion. (In fact, you can find a separate article on authentication right here on this website.) I’ve also included a link in the references to an excellent external IAM article that I recommend reading and understanding.

Threat Detection and Incident Response

If IAM represents 80% of effective security administration, the remaining 20% falls into threat detection and incident response — two areas that go hand-in-hand in real-world practice.
Over the years, in both blue team and red team roles, I’ve often seen blue teams rely too heavily on built-in or “canned” alerts within tools like EDR and SIEM platforms. It’s critical to customize and fine-tune these tools to your specific organization and threat landscape.
To do this effectively, a security professional must understand not only specific attacks but also the broader methodology attackers use. Ask yourself:

• What are the early signs of intrusion?

• What will the attacker likely do next?

• How can we anticipate and mitigate damage?

A good way to structure this understanding is to study the typical attacker workflow:
Information Gathering & Reconnaissance → Enumeration → Exploitation → Privilege Escalation → Persistence

For a more theoretical framework, explore MITRE ATT&CK [2], which does an exceptional job of categorizing known attack methods, mitigations, and detections. For a more hands-on approach, I highly recommend Try Hack Me (THM) [1], which offers guided labs to learn offensive and defensive techniques in a safe environment. Remember: the most effective defenders are those who think like attackers.
Advice for Students and Professionals

Advice for Students and Professionals

Whether you’re a college student beginning your journey or a working professional, try to map everything you learn to one of these core concepts. Once you’re in the workforce, never rest on your laurels. Take every opportunity to learn new technologies, assist on new projects, and expand your skill set. Use college as a way to learn how to learn — not as the final word on what to learn.
In summary, focus on mastering broad, enduring concepts rather than chasing every new tool or platform. Technologies will always change, but principles like IAM, threat detection, and incident response will continue to form the foundation of effective cybersecurity practice for years to come.

In summary, focus on mastering broad, enduring concepts rather than chasing every new tool or platform. Technologies will always change, but principles like IAM, threat detection, and incident response will continue to form the foundation of effective cybersecurity practice for years to come.

[1] Try Hack Me

[2] MITRE ATT&CK

[3] Microsoft IAM