Prelaunch Status Aug 2026: Cybersecurity Interest Group

ByLawrence Tanimoto

This e-mail was sent to CSTA Washington members and friends who signed up for the CSTA Washington Cybersecurity Interest Group, which officially launches on Oct 1, 2026. To sign up yourself, visit Launching CSTA Washington’s Cybersecurity Interest Group

Hi all

Thank you for joining the CSTA Washington Cybersecurity Group!

Although our official launch date is Oct 1, I wanted to give a status report of some of the things going on in the world of K-12 cybersecurity education in Washington.

  • Evan Drake of Bellevue College gave a jam-packed presentation on K-12 cybersecurity resources at the FUTURE II Conference on June 13.   Resources for every grade level that he highlighted (but did not necessarily recommend) are listed in the blog post: Cybersecurity Resources for Every Grade Level.
  • ESD 189 Northwest is holding an in-person Cybersecurity Community of Practice at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon from Oct 21, 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm.    To register, go to https://www.pdenroller.org/nwesd/catalog/event/212988.   Although this in-person event is inconvenient for educators outside of ESD 189, CSTA Washington and ESD189 are discussing cooperating on future statewide virtual events in cybersecurity.
  • NCCE is sponsoring a Student Cybersecurity Challenge for students K-12 in four grade bands.   Entries must be submitted by Nov 30, with winners announced in late Jan 2027.   CSTA Washington is also in discussion with NCCE on how to cooperate in cybersecurity and other areas.
  • There were two sessions that focused on cybersecurity education at the CSTA Conference.   Both focused on younger K-8 students.
  • There were no sessions with “Cybersecurity” or even “cyber” in the title at the WA-ACTE Conference in Spokane Aug 2-5.
  • ESD 121 Puget Sound is offering an 8-hour online PD “Cybersecurity Foundations for Every Classroom” for free, although you must register by Aug 14 (and complete the course by Aug 31) at https://www.pdenroller.org/aesd/catalog/event/206656.   I have registered, but have not yet taken the course.   We will also be talking with ESD 121 on ways we can cooperate in cybersecurity education.
  • I have been planning to do a blog post on Washington successes in major middle and high school cybersecurity challenges such as CyberPatriot, Cyber.Org National Cyber Cup and National Cyber League but have not had time yet.  Will do so by end of August.   

Please let me know if there is anything you’d like to share with this group regarding cybersecurity education in Washington prior to Oct 1.    I will post this content to cstawa.org by the end of Aug 10, and will post any updates you have there too.   

Please also let me know if you have concerns with me sharing your e-mail with the rest of the group once Oct 1 comes about.   At present, there are ten of us with no one who appears to be signed up out of place.

Kind regards,
Lawrence Tanimoto

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