{"id":858,"date":"2024-10-24T17:49:01","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T17:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/?p=858"},"modified":"2026-06-10T17:28:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T17:28:50","slug":"a-passion-for-cybersecurity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/2024\/10\/24\/a-passion-for-cybersecurity\/","title":{"rendered":"A passion for cybersecurity"},"content":{"rendered":"
Huntington native David LeGrow\u2019s path to Marshall wasn\u2019t a straight line, he\u2019s a non-traditional student, a veteran, and a father who found his passion for cybersecurity while working various odd jobs.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until he took an online cybersecurity course through Google that something clicked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018This is really interesting. I love this,\u2019 \u201d David said.<\/p>\n

His passion led him to search for cybersecurity programs, when he discovered Marshall\u2019s Cyber Forensics and Security program was one of the top-ranked programs in the country.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a real gift when an excellent program in the field you\u2019re passionate about and your family legacy school are right in your backyard.<\/p>\n

David\u2019s father, Chris LeGrow, has been a professor at Marshall for 25 years, and David\u2019s sister, brother and mom all attended Marshall.<\/p>\n

Now a junior in Marshall\u2019s cybersecurity program, David has found the perfect blend of academic challenge and real-world application. \u201cThe program is fantastic. It\u2019s definitely got a practitioner\u2019s mindset,\u201d David said. \u201cThere are lectures, but then you get to immediately apply what you learn, which helps solidify both types of learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to his coursework, David\u2019s engaged in hands-on research, analyzing cyber threats related to global events and large-scale ransomware attacks.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been able to get real hands-on experience through Marshall\u2019s Cyber Forensics and Security program. His current project is as a Cyber Navigator through West Virginia Secretary of State and Marshall, where he and his team work with Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and West Virginia counties to ensure our election\u2019s security.<\/p>\n

David currently works four jobs\u2014including assisting with events at Marshall\u2019s Institute for Cyber Security and mentoring underrepresented high school students in STEM through the Health Science Technology Academy.<\/p>\n

The motivation behind his work ethic? His 4-year-old son.<\/p>\n

\n\tAll of my perspectives and priorities totally changed when I had my son. Before, I was fine bartending and hanging out. But now, that\u2019s not enough to give him the life he deserves. This is all for him.<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t- David LeGrow<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

\u201cAll of my perspectives and priorities totally changed when I had my son,\u201d David said. \u201cBefore, I was fine bartending and hanging out. But now, that\u2019s not enough to give him the life he deserves. This is all for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be doing some really technical work, and then my son will come over with a Lego car and say, \u2018Dad, can you help me with this?\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018I would love to.\u2019 It\u2019s a break from everything, and it\u2019s turned into a wonderful balance,\u201d David said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what my parents did for me,\u201d David said. \u201cThey settled down and provided for us, and I want to give my son the same stability and opportunities. He deserves that, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

As David looks toward his career, his goal is to help both government and private entities protect themselves from emerging cyber threats, bridging the gap between the digital and real worlds.<\/p>\n

As cyber threats continue to evolve in complexity and scale, raising awareness and enhancing security measures becomes ever more critical.<\/p>\n

\n\t This is what my parents did for me. They settled down and provided for us, and I want to give my son the same stability and opportunities. He deserves that, too. <\/span>\n\n\t\t\t- David LeGrow<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month (CSAM), an initiative started by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in 2004.<\/p>\n

CISA recommends four easy ways to stay safe online<\/a>, which include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Use strong passwords<\/li>\n
  2. Turn on multi-factor authentication<\/li>\n
  3. Recognize and report phishing<\/li>\n
  4. Update software<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For more information on cybersecurity at Marshall University, visit www.marshall.edu\/cyber<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Huntington native David LeGrow\u2019s path to Marshall wasn\u2019t a straight line, he\u2019s a non-traditional student, a veteran, and a father who found his passion for cybersecurity while working various odd jobs. It wasn\u2019t until he took an online cybersecurity course through Google that something clicked. \u201cI was like, \u2018This is really interesting. I love this,\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":945,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-moments"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/945"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1916,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions\/1916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}