Gonzaga University marked October’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month by urging students and faculty to complete annual security training and by highlighting its new Bachelor of Science in cybersecurity, launched in fall 2025, as artificial intelligence accelerates the pace of online attacks, the Gonzaga Bulletin reported.
International Business Machines Corp. documented a 44% year-over-year increase in the exploitation of public-facing software in its 2026 Threat Intelligence Index, a rise university officials connect to AI tools that generate polished attack messages with minimal effort.
AI Has Cut the Effort Needed to Launch Attacks
Assistant Professor of Computer Science Luke Johnson said the barrier to entry for cyberattacks has dropped sharply. “The prevalence of cyber attacks has only increased because it has become so much easier to do it,” Johnson said. “It used to be that in order to do complicated things you needed to put a lot of effort in. But that’s no longer the case. You can just run a prompt. The amount of effort required to launch an attack is much lower than it used to be.”
Director of Information Security Angel Alvarez described how AI has erased traditional warning signs in phishing emails. “It’s changed drastically,” Alvarez said. “There was always the easy ‘Watch for grammar. Watch for misspellings.’ That doesn’t apply anymore. AI just does this perfectly polished email.”
Students Can Reach Deep Into University Systems
Johnson emphasized that enrolled students can access more of Gonzaga’s infrastructure than outsiders can. “Students are kind of let inside of the internal infrastructure of Gonzaga in some really interesting ways,” Johnson said. “You have a greater ability to compromise institutional data as a student than you do as a non-affiliated person.”
Protecting that data aligns with the university mission statement’s call for responsible stewardship of resources, according to GU’s website, and security officials treat vigilance as a shared duty for anyone with a GU account or device.
The New Cybersecurity Degree Takes Shape
The Department of Computer Science introduced the Bachelor of Science in cybersecurity in fall 2025 to prepare students for roles including ethical hacker, cybersecurity analyst and security engineer. “Cybersecurity at a bachelor’s level is kind of a new degree,” Johnson said. “We decided to add it because people were asking for it. And I think that we’re still kind of figuring out what it needs to be. Currently, it’s mostly a computer science degree with a few different requirements, added on or substituted in for other things.”
The curriculum will cover network security, secure software development and digital forensics, though Johnson noted those courses have not yet been offered because the program remains young.
Annual Training Targets AI Scams and Phishing
GU requires students and staff to complete cybersecurity training each fall, with content updated regularly to match evolving threats. The training addresses AI scams, potential phishing simulations and safe online activity using explanations that avoid heavy technical language.
Johnson praised the approach for focusing on human behavior rather than technical minutiae. “It does a fairly good job of making the important parts feel important,” Johnson said. “Most of the breaches or kinds of problems that come up in cybersecurity are actually human-created. And so I appreciate that they don’t emphasize the technical parts of computer security.”
Questions Students Ask About Cyber Safety at Gonzaga
The Department of Computer Science launched the Bachelor of Science in cybersecurity in fall 2025. The program is still in development, and its specialized courses in network security and digital forensics have not yet been offered.
GU requires students and staff to complete training each fall that covers AI scams, phishing simulations and safe online activity. The content is regularly updated to reflect current digital trends and avoids overly technical explanations.
Who is responsible for protecting university data?
According to GU’s website, anyone with a Gonzaga account or device shoulders the responsibility of protecting the university’s systems and data. Security is framed as a shared responsibility tied to the mission statement’s call for responsible stewardship of resources.
Alvarez urged students to trust their instincts when something feels wrong. “No one’s ever gonna give you a free MacBook Pro,” Alvarez said. “There’s a lot of people who want to take advantage of you.”