Riverdale native passionate on cybersecurity
By Daniel Arens
North Dakota recently saw one of its residents receive the first graduate cybersecurity credential in the state.
Ben Bernard, a computer service specialist and landscape architecture instructor at North Dakota State University, completed his graduate course in cybersecurity this fall at the school where he teaches.
“How do you figure if you could do something?” Bernard said. “Well, you take one class and see how it works out, and go from there.”
Bernard, who was born and spent part of his childhood in Riverdale, said he has always been interested in computer information systems. But the ever-expanding field of cybersecurity, and the need to protect businesses and individuals from the threat of hackers, opened a whole new world of possibility for him.
“I feel every IT [information technician] needs more security awareness, because of the evolving threat,” he said.
