Now recruiting at GCU, ASU, NAU, UOA, UOP, and UAT. Apply in 5 minutes.
Real Cybersecurity Experience. Before You Graduate.
Work on real client assessments. Get expert feedback from CISSP-certified professionals. Build a portfolio that employers actually care about. No coffee runs. No fake internships. Competitive pay.
You Need Experience to Get Hired. You Need to Get Hired to Get Experience.
Every cybersecurity job listing wants 2-3 years of hands-on experience for an "entry level" role. The internships that would give you that experience take a few hundred students nationally and reject thousands. If you did not land one, your options are usually:
An unpaid "internship" doing helpdesk work that has nothing to do with security
Setting up a home lab and hoping a Hack The Box badge counts as experience
Waiting until graduation and competing against people who already have real-world hours
We built Cyber Wise Corp because there is a better option: real, paid, supervised security work that you can do on your own schedule, near your campus, starting now.
The Work, in Plain English
A homeowner or small business books an assessment on our site. We dispatch the job to a vetted student near them. You show up at the agreed time, spend one hour walking through their network, devices, IoT gear, and digital security setup using our standardized checklist. You give them a 15-minute walkthrough of what you found. You upload your findings to our platform.
A CISSP-certified expert reviews your report within 48 hours, adds any context you missed, and the customer gets the final report. You get written feedback on what you caught, what you missed, and how to do it better next time.
You get paid $140 per completed and approved assessment. Most assessments take about 90 minutes total when you count drive time, the on-site hour, and the report write-up.
Each assessment becomes a portfolio artifact. A real client deliverable, with a real expert review, that you can show in interviews. After 10 assessments, you have done more hands-on field work than most students do in an entire degree program.
Work on real cybersecurity assessments for homes and businesses. See our home assessment and business assessment services.
Real paying clients across Arizona
Every assessment reviewed by a CISSP-certified expert
Structured methodology with real deliverables
Insured, supervised, and professionally managed
What You Get Besides Money
Real Client Work
Not lab exercises. Not CTFs. Actual customers, actual networks, actual problems. The kind of experience hiring managers ask about in interviews.
CISSP Feedback After Every Job
Every report you submit gets reviewed by a senior security professional. You will learn faster in 10 assessments than in a semester of coursework, because the feedback is specific to your work.
Portfolio Artifacts
Sanitized versions of your reports become resume material. "I have personally completed and delivered 23 cybersecurity assessments to real clients" is a sentence almost no other applicant can write.
Schedule Control
You take jobs when you want them. No shifts, no quotas, no minimum hours. Midterms week? Take zero jobs. Summer break? Take ten a week.
The Honest Requirements
You Should Apply If:
Currently enrolled in a cybersecurity, computer science, IT, or related degree program at one of our partner schools (GCU, ASU, NAU, UOA, UOP, UAT, more coming)
Completed at least one networking course and one security course (or equivalent self-study you can demonstrate)
Comfortable walking into a stranger's home or small business and being the technical authority in the room for an hour
Have reliable transportation to job sites in your area
Can pass a standard background check (we pay for it)
Can communicate clearly in writing because your reports are read by paying customers
You Should NOT Apply If:
Looking for guaranteed weekly hours or a steady paycheck. This is gig work, not employment.
Expecting us to teach you cybersecurity from scratch. We provide the standardized checklist and the expert review, but you need the foundational knowledge to use them.
Not comfortable being independently accountable for your work and your schedule.
We say no to a lot of applicants. Not because they are not smart, but because this work is not right for everyone. We would rather tell you that now than waste your time and ours.
Things You Should Know Before Applying
Independent contractor
You are a 1099 contractor, not an employee. You are responsible for your own taxes. We recommend setting aside about 25% of every payment.
Background check required
We pay for it. Standard criminal and identity check, same as any employer would run.
Insurance is in place
CWC carries general liability, professional liability (E&O), and cyber liability insurance that covers students performing assessments under our standardized process.
You follow the standardized checklist
This is non-negotiable. The checklist exists to protect you, the customer, and the company.
Incident reporting is mandatory
If anything unexpected happens during an assessment, you stop work and call our incident line. Always.
You can decline any job, any time, for any reason
This is genuinely your choice. We do not penalize you for declining.
Real Numbers, Not Marketing Math
School Year (Part-Time)
$280/week
2 assessments per week x $140 = $280/week
Roughly $1,120/month during the academic year
Summer (Full-Time)
$700/week
5 assessments per week x $140 = $700/week
Over 12 weeks: approximately $8,400
We are not promising these numbers. Your actual earnings depend on customer demand in your area, how many jobs you accept, and how quickly your reports clear expert review. Some students will earn more, some will earn less, and some will quit after their second assessment because the work is not for them. We would rather you know that going in.
What Happens After You Click Apply
5-Minute Application
Name, school, year, courses completed, why you are interested. We read every one.
Background Check
We pay for it. Takes 3-5 business days.
30-Minute Video Interview
With a CWC team member. We will ask you to walk through how you would assess a hypothetical home network. Not to trick you, but to make sure the foundational knowledge is there.
Onboarding Session (90 minutes, virtual)
We walk you through the standardized checklist, the platform, the incident reporting process, and the contractor agreement.
First Assessment, Shadowed
Your first real job is performed alongside an experienced student or team member. You get paid for it. After this, you are cleared to take jobs independently.
Total time from application to first paid assessment: typically 2-3 weeks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this an internship or a job?
Neither, technically. You are an independent contractor (1099). It is closer to driving for Uber than to a traditional internship, except the work is actual cybersecurity, and you get expert review and feedback after every job.
Will this count for my school's internship or practicum credit?
We are working with program directors at our partner schools to formalize this. Ask your program advisor and tell them you have applied to Cyber Wise Corp. They may already have information from us.
Do I need a car?
For most assessments, yes. Customers are at their homes or small businesses, and we dispatch jobs based on geography. If you are in a dense urban area with good transit, you may be able to use that, but most students will need reliable transportation.
What if I damage something at a customer's site?
Follow the standardized checklist. The checklist is non-invasive and does not modify customer systems. As long as you follow the checklist, our insurance covers incidental issues. If you go off-script and break something, the insurance may not cover it.
What happens if a customer is hostile or makes me feel unsafe?
You leave. Immediately. You call our incident line on the way out. You will be paid for the time you spent on-site. The customer will be removed from our platform if appropriate. Your safety is non-negotiable.
Can I do this if I'm an international student on an F-1 visa?
This depends on your school's CPT/OPT rules. Independent contractor work generally requires CPT authorization tied to your major. Talk to your school's international student office before you apply. We cannot give immigration advice and we cannot sponsor visas.
How do you handle taxes?
You are a 1099 contractor. We send you a 1099-NEC at the end of the year if you have earned over $600. You are responsible for your own federal, state, and self-employment taxes. We recommend setting aside about 25% of each payment.
What schools do you work with?
Currently Grand Canyon University, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, University of Arizona, University of Phoenix, and University of Advancing Technology. We are expanding. If your school is not listed, you can still apply. We add schools based on student interest and customer demand in that geography.
Who reviews my reports?
A CISSP-certified senior security professional with 10+ years of field experience. Every report. No exceptions.
What if I want to stop?
You can stop at any time. No notice period, no penalty. This is gig work. If it is not for you, that is completely fine.