Alan B. Watkins

Alan Watkins is a Core Adjunct Professor in the Cybersecurity Program at National University, School of Technology and Engineering, Department of Computer Science and Cybersecurity, where he has been teaching graduate level courses since 2012. From 2016 through 2018, Mr. Watkins has updated the curriculum for two graduate courses and developed new curriculum for three undergraduate courses, and updated two others for asynchronous learning. In 2020, Mr. Watkins was contracted to create a Cybercrime Prevention certificate program for the InfraGard National Members Alliance, resulting in four courses comprised of 20 learning modules.

Mr. Watkins was part of a national curriculum standards panel through the National CyberWatch Center in 2017-2019. The panel aligned various cybersecurity courses with the NIST/NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework, and the NSA/DHS Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) Knowledge Units, to help close the skills gap in the national cybersecurity workforce. In 2017-2018, he was the Managing Editor for a national project to develop a foundational, competency-based cybersecurity course model. In 2018, he co-authored two papers on the use of competency-based learning in cybersecurity education – "Applying Competency-Based Learning Methodologies to Cybersecurity Education and Training: Creating a Job-Ready Cybersecurity Workforce," and "Competency is Not a Three-Letter Word: A Glossary Supporting Competency-Based Instructional Design in Cybersecurity." In 2015, Mr. Watkins co-authored a paper titled, "Using Security Onion for Hands-on Cybersecurity Labs." From 2011 to 2019, Mr. Watkins provided cybersecurity consulting services, which included creating cybersecurity policies and procedures for regional and local governments, and helping develop organizational cybersecurity requirements. He also conducted public awareness seminars for individuals and small businesses on the topics of cybersecurity and identity theft prevention. His first book, "Creating a Small Business Cybersecurity Program," (July 2020) focuses on low-cost and no-cost options, geared toward non-technical business owners with limited resources. Mr. Watkins was part of a small international team that updated the 20 CIS Controls® from v.6.1 to v.7 and then v.7.1, as well as helping create implementation groups, which are featured in the first book. The 2nd Edition of the book (January 2023) has been updated to incorporate the CIS Controls v8.

Mr. Watkins has a MSBA degree in General Management and a BS degree in Business Administration, both with emphasis in Human Resource Management, from San Diego State University. He also received a Certificate (with Honors) in Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement from Miramar College in San Diego. Mr. Watkins and his wife now live in Yuma, Arizona, with their 4 cats, 5 dogs, and 7 tortoises.