Happy New Year from OCCoE! 

Reflecting over 2025 and dreaming up ideas for 2026, we are grateful for the collaborations and connections we've built with you all so far and are excited to continue alongside you in this ever-evolving mission to enhance cyber resilience in Oregon, together.  

270 SOC Students, 154 Campers, 40 Certificate Grads, 32 Outreach Events, 19 Entities Served, 3 Legislative Sessions...

It's not quite a holiday carol, but the numbers say it all: last year, OCCoE partner programs worked harder than ever to expand our reach and bring cybersecurity educational initiatives and support to our cross-generational and cross-organizational cyber community.  

For 2026, we've managed to maintain all current programming despite facing universal public funding challenges.  We already have 15 outreach events on the schedule with goals to expand to reach more rural areas, more ESDs, and more general community members.  University SOCs are doubling to serve more public entities and train more students.  Over 50 participants from public agencies and tribes in Oregon will begin professional certification, mentoring, and networking.  Camps for students and teachers will come again next summer thanks to generous donations and dedicated universities.  And of course, we will continue advocating for legislative support for all of our programming in fervent effort toward sustainability and longevity of such vital cybersecurity initiatives.  

University of Oregon Launches MS in Cybersecurity for Fall 2026

UO's cybersecurity graduate program provides an advanced education for students seeking to deepen their expertise in critical areas such as security architecture, risk management, and incident response. Graduates of the program are prepared to assume leadership roles in a variety of sectors, including government, healthcare, finance, and beyond. 

Cybersecurity Tabletop Exercise Pre-SDAO Annual Conference 2/5

Presented by LBL Cybersecurity in partnership with the Oregon Cybersecurity Center of Excellence and the State’s Cyber Security Services Office, this free cybersecurity tabletop exercise is designed to strengthen your organization’s ability to respond to today’s evolving cyber threats effectively and collaboratively.

Designed specifically for Special Districts, but applicable to all in public sector, the exercise features realistic, high-impact scenarios that reflect the financial, operational, and reputational risks districts face every day.

Participants will work through a fast-moving, interactive exercise that begins with a social engineering incident and escalates into cascading impacts across internal systems, partner agencies, and the public eye.

Lunch is included. All in public sector are welcome to attend by registering through the SDAO conference registration page. There will be an option on the second page of registration to choose our free pre-conference event.  Registration for the full conference is not required.

University of Oregon's Industry Partners Network First Industry Event 2/11

Those who have joined the Industry Partners Network (IPN) are invited to participate in an opportunity to directly interact with cybersecurity, computer science, and data science students at UO to recruit for full-time roles or internship positions. 

Want to learn more about the IPN?  There will also be an information session for all participating organizations from 2:00–3:00 p.m., immediately before the main event. This session will share updates about partnership opportunities with our programs, including details about our co-op program, which offers organizations the opportunity to hire students from the newly launched MS in Cybersecurity program.

Light refreshments will be served and parking will be provided.

If you are interested in participating, please register by January 9, 2026. 

OCCoE Director to Present at Association of Oregon County Clerks Mid Winter Conference 2/2-2/5

OCCoE is very excited to be developing a partnership with Oregon's County Clerks.  Our Director, Birol Yeşilada, will present at the Oregon Association of County Clerks Mid Winter Conference on general cybersecurity awareness, with particular importance on elections security.  

This partnership is a great example of what OCCoE was created to do: build connections throughout Oregon's many organizations and communities to fill the gaps where support is most needed to protect our State.  

OCCoE's Research Seminar Series showcases exciting cybersecurity research taking place at each of our founding institutions.

February 6, 2026, PSU's John Acken will be presenting virtually on "Digital Computer Architecture Hardware support for Information Security."

Information Security requires a system wide solution. The security solution must include software, policy, cultural, and hardware components. The key in security is that the system is no stronger than the weakest point. This talk will cover some current research into Computer Architecture Hardware ideas that support system wide security solutions. 

Save the Date: March 6, 2026, with PSU's Dr. Karen Karavanic

If you'd like to attend a seminar, please email us at occoe@pdx.edu to receive the link!