Congratulations to Core Adjunct Faculty member, Alan Watkins, who just published his first book, Creating a Small Business Cybersecurity Program, which is book #2 out of 3 in the CISO Desk Reference Guide® Small Business Series. In his book, Alan provides a foundational look at incorporating cybersecurity into common business governance documents (e.g., Business Plan and Risk Management Plan), then explains the benefits of incorporating cyber risk assessment into standard business risk assessments. After these business basics, the book outlines the elements for a cybersecurity strategy and ongoing cybersecurity program for small businesses. Finally, the book offers a step-by-step guide for implementing the CIS Controls® Implementation Group 1 Sub-Controls. The book is written in non-technical language and targets small businesses with 25 to 500 employees, providing low cost methods for creating a cyber-secure workplace. The book is available here (in paperback or eBook versions)

Alan has been with the NU Cyber program since June 2012, primarily in the MS Degree program. In addition to teaching, over the last four years Alan has updated the curriculum for two MS-CSIA courses and created all new curriculum for four BS-CSIA courses, as well as converting two of the undergraduate courses into the Async format. Outside of NU, Alan was a participant and also managing editor on a nationwide Curriculum Standards Panel focusing on creating competency-based mastery learning modules to improve cybersecurity training and education. Alan has authored or co-authored three published papers relating to cybersecurity education, and he is currently a member of a peer review panel for the Cyber Skills Journal.”