Case Study: Columbus State University builds work-ready cybersecurity talent with Cyberbit's cyber range

Columbus State University - Customer Case Study

Columbus State University (CSU) faced a regional and national cybersecurity skills shortage — Georgia alone had 25,082 open cybersecurity positions — and aimed to build a program that would produce work-ready graduates, upskill existing professionals, and recruit underrepresented groups. To do this, CSU partnered with Cyberbit and equipped the new TSYS Center for Cybersecurity with the Cyberbit cyber range to deliver hands-on, experiential training.

Cyberbit implemented a hyper‑realistic, “live‑fire” cyber range integrated into three CSU programs (Nexus, Nexus‑R Defender, Nexus‑R Invader) and short workshops, letting students and corporate SOC teams practice against enterprise-grade networks, commercial tools, and realistic attack scenarios. The Cyberbit range has driven measurable outcomes: recruiters from 80 major companies interviewed 60 Nexus‑R students (nearly all were offered positions), roughly 95% of interns and apprentices later received job offers, and CSU has placed graduates with firms such as Global Payment, Aflac, and Synovus.

Columbus State University

Ehab Bedir

Cyber Range Network and Computer Systems Administrator