1. (a) Implementation.

   1. (1) The provisions of this section shall be implemented by school districts beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.
   2. (2) School districts shall implement the employability skills student expectations listed in §127.15(d)(2) of this chapter (relating to Career and Technical Education Employability Skills) as an integral part of this course.
2. (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.

3. (c) Introduction.

   1. (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. (2) The Information Technology (IT) Career Cluster focuses on building linkages in IT occupations for entry level, technical, and professional careers related to the design, development, support, and management of hardware, software, multimedia, and systems integration services.
   3. (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. (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. (5) Students are encouraged to participate in extended learning experiences such as career and technical student organizations and other organizations that foster leadership and career development in the profession such as student chapters of related professional associations.
   6. (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.

4. (d) Knowledge and skills.

   1. (1) Employability skills. The student identifies various employment opportunities in the cybersecurity field. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) develop a personal career plan along with the education, job skills, and experience necessary to achieve career goals;
      2. (B) develop a resume or a portfolio appropriate to a chosen career plan; and
      3. (C) demonstrate interview skills for successful job placement.

   2. (2) 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:

      1. (A) analyze and apply to a scenario local, state, national, and international cybersecurity laws such as David's Law and Digital Millennium Copyright Act;
      2. (B) evaluate noteworthy incidents or events regarding cybersecurity; and
      3. (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).

   3. (3) 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:

      1. (A) debate the relationship between privacy and security; and
      2. (B) differentiate between ethical and unethical behavior when presented with various scenarios related to cybersecurity activities.

   4. (4) Cybersecurity skills. The student simulates the process of penetration testing. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) illustrate the phases of penetration testing, including plan, discover, attack, and report;
      2. (B) design a plan to gain authorization for penetration testing;
      3. (C) evaluate commonly used vulnerability scanning tools such as port scanning, packet sniffing, and password crackers;
      4. (D) develop a list of exploits based on results of scanning tool reports; and
      5. (E) prioritize a list of mitigations based on results of scanning tool reports.

   5. (5) Cybersecurity skills. The student understands common cryptographic methods. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) evaluate symmetric and asymmetric algorithms such as substitution cipher, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Diffie-Hellman, and Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA);
      2. (B) interpret the purpose of hashing algorithms, including blockchain;
      3. (C) demonstrate password salting;
      4. (D) explain and create a digital signature; and
      5. (E) illustrate steganography.

   6. (6) Cybersecurity skills. The student understands the concept of system defense. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) explain the purpose of establishing system baselines;
      2. (B) evaluate the role of physical security;
      3. (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;
      4. (D) analyze log files for anomalies; and
      5. (E) develop a plan demonstrating the concept of defense in depth.

   7. (7) Cybersecurity skills. The student demonstrates an understanding of secure network design. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) explain the benefits of network segmentation, including sandboxes, air gaps, and virtual local area networks (VLAN);
      2. (B) investigate and discuss the role of software-managed networks, including virtualization and cloud architecture;
      3. (C) evaluate the role of honeypots and honeynets in networks; and
      4. (D) create an incoming and outgoing network policy for a firewall.

   8. (8) Cybersecurity skills. The student integrates principles of digital forensics. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) identify cyberattacks by their signatures, indicators, or patterns;
      2. (B) explain proper data acquisition;
      3. (C) examine evidence from devices for suspicious activities; and
      4. (D) critique current cybercrime cases involving digital forensics.

   9. (9) Cybersecurity skills. The student explores expanding and emerging technology. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) describe the concept of Security as a Service and the role of managed security service providers (MSSP);
      2. (B) describe the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning in cybersecurity;
      3. (C) investigate impacts made by predictive analytics on cybersecurity; and
      4. (D) research and investigate other emerging trends such as augmented reality and quantum computing.

   10. (10) Cybersecurity skills. The student uses various operating system environments. The student is expected to:

       1. (A) select and execute appropriate commands via the command line interface (CLI) such as ls, cd, pwd, cp, mv, chmod, ps, sudo, and passwd;
       2. (B) describe the file system structure for multiple operating systems;
       3. (C) manipulate and edit files within the CLI; and
       4. (D) determine network status using the CLI with commands such as ping, ifconfig/ipconfig, traceroute/tracert, and netstat.

   11. (11) Cybersecurity skills. The student clearly and effectively communicates technical information. The student is expected to:

       1. (A) collaborate with others to create a technical report;
       2. (B) create, review, and edit a report summarizing technical findings; and
       3. (C) present technical information to a non-technical audience.

   12. (12) Risk assessment. The student understands risk and how risk assessment and risk management defend against attacks. The student is expected to:

       1. (A) differentiate types of attacks, including operating systems, software, hardware, network, physical, social engineering, and cryptographic;
       2. (B) explain blended threats such as combinations of software, hardware, network, physical, social engineering, and cryptographic;
       3. (C) discuss types of risk, including business, operational, security, and financial;
       4. (D) discuss risk response techniques, including accept, transfer, avoid, and mitigate;
       5. (E) develop a plan of preventative measures based on discovered vulnerabilities and the likelihood of a cyberattack;
       6. (F) identify and discuss common vulnerability disclosure websites;
       7. (G) describe common web vulnerabilities such as cross-site scripting, buffer overflow, injection, spoofing, and denial of service;
       8. (H) describe common data destruction and media sanitation practices such as wiping, shredding, and degaussing; and
       9. (I) develop an incident response plan for a given scenario or attack.

   13. (13) Risk assessment. The student understands risk management processes and concepts. The student is expected to:

       1. (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);
       2. (B) develop and defend a plan for multi-factor access control using components such as biometric verification systems, key cards, tokens, and passwords; and
       3. (C) review and appraise a disaster recovery plan (DRP) that includes backups, redundancies, system dependencies, and alternate sites.

   14. (14) Risk assessment. The student investigates the role and effectiveness of environmental controls. The student is expected to:

       1. (A) explain commonly used physical security controls, including lock types, fences, barricades, security doors, and mantraps; and
       2. (B) describe the role of embedded systems such as fire suppression; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems; security alarms; and video monitoring.

Source Note:The provisions of this §127.678 adopted to be effective August 1, 2025, 50 TexReg 4421.