Cybersecurity (MS)

Program Educational Goals

1. Students will understand the fundamental concepts of cybersecurity and how cybersecurity objectives impact the design, development, and management of computers and networks and the software that those systems depend upon. This acquired knowledge will prepare the graduating student to both practice as a security professional in the security industry, or provide similar functions to enterprises that either need security professionals, or need in-depth security knowledge for the safe development of their products and services.
2. Students will have hands-on capabilities in all of these potential applications areas to allow them to make meaningful contributions immediately. Essential acquired knowledge and skills will include cybersecurity fundamentals, best practices, secure design techniques for software and systems, defensive hardening, attack detection, incident response, and remediation. These outcomes are based on the observation that cybersecurity is practiced in a broad range of settings, including team meetings, documenting policy, performing architectural design and reviews, and performing engineering audits, as well as while sitting at the keyboard writing software, securing systems, analyzing traces, and analyzing software.

Degree Requirements

The Master’s program requires 30 credit hours in either a thesis or non-thesis option. The non-thesis option requires all 30 credits to be completed through coursework, while the thesis-option requires 24 credit hours of coursework and six credits of master’s thesis (CPEG 869 ). The curriculum requirements for the thesis and non-thesis option are:

15 credits of Fundamentals of Cybersecurity courses
15 credits of elective courses in a chosen Concentration Area.
- Concentration Areas are: (I) Secure Software, (II) Secure Systems, (III) Security Analytics, and (IV) Security Management.
- Elective courses are to be taken primarily from a single chosen Concentration Area, with a maximum of six (6) credits taken from an alternative Concentration Area or as additional Fundamentals of Cybersecurity courses.
- In the thesis option, six (6) credits of master’s thesis are to be completed in lieu of six (6) Concentration Area elective credits.

Fundamentals of Cybersecurity and Concentration Area courses are listed below. Note that individual courses are typically three (3) credits, i.e., the 30 credit hours required for the master’s non-thesis degree typically equates to 10 courses (or eight (8) courses and a thesis for the thesis option).

Fundamentals of Cybersecurity

Students must complete 15 credits, or five (5) courses, of Fundamentals of Cybersecurity. Courses designated as Fundamentals of Cybersecurity are:

CPEG 665 - Introduction to Cybersecurity Credit(s): 3 (CYBER I)
CPEG 697 - Advanced Cybersecurity Credit(s): 3 (CYBER II)
CPEG 694 - System Hardening and Protection Credit(s): 3 (DEFENSE)
CPEG 695 - Digital Forensics Credit(s): 3
CPEG 676 - Secure Software Design Credit(s): 3
CPEG 671 - Pen Test and Reverse Engineering Credit(s): 3
CPEG 672 - Applied Cryptography Credit(s): 3

Concentration Areas

Students must complete 15 credits, or five (5) courses, of electives. Elective courses are to be taken primarily from a single chosen Concentration Area. Of these five (5) elective courses, a maximum of two (2) can be taken outside the single Concentration Area (from one of the other Concentration Areas or from the set of Fundamentals of Cybersecurity courses). The Concentration Areas and courses within each area are listed below.

Concentration in Secure Software

The Secure Software Concentration is designed for a professional responsible for developing secure software systems. Secure Software electives are:

CPEG 670 - Web Applications Security Credit(s): 3
CISC 621 - Algorithm Design and Analysis Credit(s): 3
CISC 663 - Operating Systems Credit(s): 3
CISC 672 - Compiler Construction Credit(s): 3 or
CPEG 621 - Compiler Design Credit(s): 3
CISC 675 - Software Engineering Principles and Practices Credit(s): 3
CISC 611 - Software Process Management Credit(s): 3
CISC 612 - Software Design Credit(s): 3
CISC 613 - Software Requirements Engineering Credit(s): 3
CISC 614 - Formal Methods in Software Engineering Credit(s): 3
CISC 615 - Software Testing and Maintenance Credit(s): 3
CPEG 676 - Secure Software Design Credit(s): 3

Concentration in Secure Systems

The Secure Systems Concentration is designed for a professional responsible for secure systems that can include wireless and network communication systems, embedded systems, and related physical systems. Secure Systems electives are:

ELEG 635 - Digital Communication Credit(s): 3
ELEG 658 - Advanced Mobile Services Credit(s): 3
ELEG 617 - The Smart Grid Credit(s): 3
CPEG 696 - Topics in Cybersecurity Credit(s): 3
CISC 650 - Computer Networks II Credit(s): 3
CISC 853 - Network Management Credit(s): 3
CPEG 673 - Cloud Computing and Security Credit(s): 3
CISC 886 - Multi-Agent Systems Credit(s): 3
CPEG 853 - Computer System Reliability Credit(s): 3

Concentration in Security Analytics

The Security Analytics Concentration is designed for a professional responsible for utilizing big data, analytics, and statistical learning methods to identify and characterize anomalous behavior and security risks. Security Analytics electives are:

ELEG 815 - Analytics I: Statistical Learning Credit(s): 3
ELEG 817 - Large Scale Machine Learning Credit(s): 3
CISC 683 - Introduction to Data Mining Credit(s): 3
CISC 637 - Database Systems Credit(s): 3
CPEG 657 - Search and Data Mining Credit(s): 3
CISC 681 - Artificial Intelligence Credit(s): 3
CISC 684 - Introduction to Machine Learning Credit(s): 3
CISC 689 - Topics: Artificial Intelligence Credit(s): 3-12
ELEG 630 - Information Theory Credit(s): 3

Concentration in Security Management

The Security Management Concentration is designed for a professional responsible for instituting and managing security controls within an enterprise. Security Management electives are:

MISY 650 - Security and Control Credit(s): 3
FINC 612 - Capital Markets & Financial Institutions Credit(s): 3
BUAD 640 - Ethical Issues in Domestic and Global Business Environments Credit(s): 3
BUAD 670 - Managing People, Teams, and Organizations Credit(s): 3
BUAD 677 - Skills for Change Agents Credit(s): 3
MISY 610 - Telecommunications and Networking Credit(s): 3

Progress Toward the Degree

Maintaining steady, reasonable progress towards the degree is the responsibility of the student. In accordance with the Graduate Student Probation Policy, a cumulative GPA of 3.00 must be maintained in coursework for each semester. Students enrolled in the on-campus program typically enroll in nine credits per semester and can complete the program within 4 semesters. Students enrolled in the online program can complete the program in as little as two years with a course load of six credits in the spring and fall semesters, and three in the summer sessions.