| (a) Implementation. The provisions of this section
shall be implemented by school districts beginning with the 2023-2024
school year.
(1) No later than August 1, 2023, the commissioner
of education shall determine whether instructional materials funding
has been made available to Texas public schools for materials that
cover the essential knowledge and skills identified in this section.
(2) If the commissioner makes the determination that
instructional materials funding has been made available this section
shall be implemented beginning with the 2023-2024 school year and
apply to the 2023-2024 and subsequent school years.
(3) If the commissioner does not make the determination
that instructional materials funding has been made available under
this subsection, the commissioner shall determine no later than August
1 of each subsequent school year whether instructional materials funding
has been made available. If the commissioner determines that instructional
materials funding has been made available, the commissioner shall
notify the State Board of Education and school districts that this
section shall be implemented for the following school year.
(b) General requirements. This course is recommended
for students in Grades 11 and 12. Prerequisite: Foundations of Cybersecurity.
Students shall be awarded one credit for successful completion of
this course.
(c) Introduction.
(1) Career and technical education instruction provides
content aligned with challenging academic standards, industry relevant
technical knowledge, and college and career readiness skills for students
to further their education and succeed in current and emerging foundations.
(2) The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
(STEM) Career Cluster focuses on planning, managing, and providing
scientific research and professional and technical services such as
laboratory and testing services, and research and development services.
(3) Cybersecurity is a critical discipline concerned
with safeguarding computers, networks, programs, and data from unauthorized
access. As a field, it has gained prominence with the expansion of
a globally connected society. As computing has become more sophisticated,
so too have the abilities of adversaries looking to penetrate networks
and access sensitive information. Cybersecurity professionals prevent,
detect, and respond to minimize disruptions to governments, organizations,
and individuals.
(4) In the Cybersecurity Capstone course, students
will develop the knowledge and skills needed to explore advanced concepts
related to the ethics, laws, and operations of cybersecurity. Students
will examine trends and operations of cyberattacks, threats, and vulnerabilities.
Students will develop security policies to mitigate risks. The skills
obtained in this course prepare students for additional study toward
industry certification. A variety of courses are available to students
interested in the cybersecurity field. Cybersecurity Capstone may
serve as a culminating course in this field of study.
(5) Students are encouraged to participate in extended
learning experiences such as career and technical student organizations
and other leadership or extracurricular organizations.
(6) Statements that contain the word "including" reference
content that must be mastered, while those containing the phrase "such
as" are intended as possible illustrative examples.
(d) Knowledge and skills.
(1) Employability skills. The student demonstrates
necessary skills for career development and successful completion
of course outcomes. The student is expected to:
(A) identify and demonstrate employable work behaviors
such as regular attendance, punctuality, maintenance of a professional
work environment, and effective written and verbal communication;
(B) identify and demonstrate positive personal qualities
such as authenticity, resilience, initiative, and a willingness to
learn new knowledge and skills;
(C) solve problems and think critically;
(D) demonstrate leadership skills and function effectively
as a team member; and
(E) communicate an understanding of ethical and legal
responsibilities in relation to the field of cybersecurity.
(2) Employability skills. The student identifies various
employment opportunities in the cybersecurity field. The student is
expected to:
(A) develop a personal career plan along with the education,
job skills, and experience necessary to achieve career goals;
(B) develop a resume or a portfolio appropriate to
a chosen career plan; and
(C) demonstrate interview skills for successful job
placement.
(3) Ethics and laws. The student evaluates ethical
and current legal standards, rights, and restrictions governing technology,
technology systems, digital media and information technology, and
the use of social media in the context of today's society. The student
is expected to:
(A) analyze and apply to a scenario local, state, national,
and international cybersecurity laws such as David's Law and Digital
Millennium Copyright Act;
(B) evaluate noteworthy incidents or events regarding
cybersecurity; and
(C) evaluate compliance requirements such as Section
508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996 (HIPAA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), and Cybersecurity
Maturity Model Certification (CMMC).
(4) Digital citizenship. The student understands and
demonstrates the social responsibility of end users regarding significant
issues relating to digital technology, safety, digital hygiene, and
cyberbullying. The student is expected to:
(A) debate the relationship between privacy and security;
and
(B) differentiate between ethical and unethical behavior
when presented with various scenarios related to cybersecurity activities.
(5) Cybersecurity skills. The student simulates the
process of penetration testing. The student is expected to:
(A) illustrate the phases of penetration testing, including
plan, discover, attack, and report;
(B) design a plan to gain authorization for penetration
testing;
(C) evaluate commonly used vulnerability scanning tools
such as port scanning, packet sniffing, and password crackers;
(D) develop a list of exploits based on results of
scanning tool reports; and
(E) prioritize a list of mitigations based on results
of scanning tool reports.
(6) Cybersecurity skills. The student understands common
cryptographic methods. The student is expected to:
(A) evaluate symmetric and asymmetric algorithms such
as substitution cipher, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Diffie-Hellman,
and Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA);
(B) interpret the purpose of hashing algorithms, including
blockchain;
(C) demonstrate password salting;
(D) explain and create a digital signature; and
(E) illustrate steganography.
(7) Cybersecurity skills. The student understands the
concept of system defense. The student is expected to:
(A) explain the purpose of establishing system baselines;
(B) evaluate the role of physical security;
(C) evaluate the functions of network security devices
such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), intrusion prevention
systems (IPS), intrusion detection prevention systems (IDPS), and
security information and event management (SIEM) systems;
(D) analyze log files for anomalies; and
(E) develop a plan demonstrating the concept of defense
in depth.
(8) Cybersecurity skills. The student demonstrates
an understanding of secure network design. The student is expected
to:
(A) explain the benefits of network segmentation, including
sandboxes, air gaps, and virtual local area networks (VLAN);
(B) investigate and discuss the role of software-managed
networks, including virtualization and cloud architecture;
(C) evaluate the role of honeypots and honeynets in
networks; and
(D) create an incoming and outgoing network policy
for a firewall.
(9) Cybersecurity skills. The student integrates principles
of digital forensics. The student is expected to:
(A) identify cyberattacks by their signatures, indicators,
or patterns;
(B) explain proper data acquisition;
(C) examine evidence from devices for suspicious activities;
and
(D) critique current cybercrime cases involving digital
forensics.
(10) Cybersecurity skills. The student explores expanding
and emerging technology. The student is expected to:
(A) describe the concept of Security as a Service and
the role of managed security service providers (MSSP);
(B) describe the integration of artificial intelligence
and machine learning in cybersecurity;
(C) investigate impacts made by predictive analytics
on cybersecurity; and
(D) research and investigate other emerging trends
such as augmented reality and quantum computing.
(11) Cybersecurity skills. The student uses various
operating system environments. The student is expected to:
(A) select and execute appropriate commands via the
command line interface (CLI) such as ls, cd, pwd, cp, mv, chmod, ps,
sudo, and passwd;
(B) describe the file system structure for multiple
operating systems;
(C) manipulate and edit files within the CLI; and
(D) determine network status using the CLI with commands
such as ping, ifconfig/ipconfig, traceroute/tracert, and netstat.
(12) Cybersecurity skills. The student clearly and
effectively communicates technical information. The student is expected
to:
(A) collaborate with others to create a technical report;
(B) create, review, and edit a report summarizing technical
findings; and
(C) present technical information to a non-technical
audience.
(13) Risk assessment. The student understands risk
and how risk assessment and risk management defend against attacks.
The student is expected to:
(A) differentiate types of attacks, including operating
systems, software, hardware, network, physical, social engineering,
and cryptographic;
(B) explain blended threats such as combinations of
software, hardware, network, physical, social engineering, and cryptographic;
(C) discuss types of risk, including business, operational,
security, and financial;
(D) discuss risk response techniques, including accept,
transfer, avoid, and mitigate;
(E) develop a plan of preventative measures based on
discovered vulnerabilities and the likelihood of a cyberattack;
(F) identify and discuss common vulnerability disclosure
websites;
(G) describe common web vulnerabilities such as cross-site
scripting, buffer overflow, injection, spoofing, and denial of service;
(H) describe common data destruction and media sanitation
practices such as wiping, shredding, and degaussing; and
(I) develop an incident response plan for a given scenario
or attack.
(14) Risk assessment. The student understands risk
management processes and concepts. The student is expected to:
(A) describe Zero Trust, least privilege, and various
access control methods such as mandatory access control (MAC), role-based
access control (RBAC), and discretionary access control (DAC);
(B) develop and defend a plan for multi-factor access
control using components such as biometric verification systems, key
cards, tokens, and passwords; and
(C) review and appraise a disaster recovery plan (DRP)
that includes backups, redundancies, system dependencies, and alternate
sites.
(15) Risk assessment. The student investigates the
role and effectiveness of environmental controls. The student is expected
to:
(A) explain commonly used physical security controls,
including lock types, fences, barricades, security doors, and mantraps;
and
(B) describe the role of embedded systems such as fire
suppression; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems;
security alarms; and video monitoring.
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