Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Cybersecurity is an increasingly important discipline in this age of technology. The master's degree program fully prepares students for careers in major security areas related to our interdependent network of information technology infrastructures, which includes the Internet, telecommunications networks, computer systems, and embedded processors and controllers in critical industries.
All of our graduate courses are taught in the afternoon or evening (2 ½ hours one night per week) so that working professionals can easily attend and participate in the program. Many of these courses are also offered with a distance learning option.
Completion of the degree requires 10 courses total, including the 2 required core courses, 4 courses from the specialization areas, and an additional 4 courses from the specialization areas and/or electives.
For the thesis option, electives must include the Independent Study and Research I & II courses.
Also available: a certificate in Cybersecurity which requires completion of 5 courses.
Degree Plan
Students should consult an ECE faculty member for advice on a degree plan. The default academic advisor for the MS Cybersecurity degree is Richard.Perry@villanova.edu.
Graduate students must submit a degree plan by midterm of their first semester. Five-year students must submit a plan with their 5-year program application. Your initial plan, as well as any subsequent changes in the plan, must be approved by your advisor. Create your degree plan by generating a personal course schedule.
Planned Course Schedule: 5-year plan of scheduled course offerings sorted by course areas or instructor.
Select a course number below to view the course description, or view the course descriptions all in one file.
ECE 8476 - Cryptography & Network Security
ECE 8484 - Cybersecurity Threats and Defense
ECE 8410 - Trusted Computing
ECE 8485 - Critical Infrastructure Control Systems Security
ECE 8492 - Secure Software Development
ECE 8498 - Designing and Securing Cyber-Physical Systems
ECE 8488 - Security Risk Assessment and Management
ECE 8494 - Legal Aspects of Computer Security and Information Privacy
ECE 8495 - Cybersecurity Behavioral Analytics
ECE 8486 - Ethical Hacking
ECE 8489 - Malicious Software Analysis and Defense
ECE 8491 - Blockchain Technology and Uses
ECE 8496 - Computer Forensics and Incident Handling
In addition to the following courses, any of the specialization area courses may be used as electives.
ECE 7428 - Computer Communication Networks
ECE 8405 - Computer Organization & Design
ECE 8408 - Mobile Computing & Wireless Networking
ECE 8448 - Embedded Systems Architecture
ECE 8473 - Unix and C Programming
ECE 9030 - Independent Study
ECE 9031 - Research I (thesis option)
ECE 9032 - Research II (thesis option)
ECE 9090 - ECE Project
CSC 8301 - Design & Analysis of Algorithms
CSC 8490 - Database Systems
CSC 8530 - Distributed Systems
CSC 9010 - Special Topics (with approval of the advisor)
MAT 7770 - Number Theory
MAT 8650 - Abstract Algebra
Selected MBA courses are also available as electives. Registration requires approval of the academic advisor and school of business.
Dr. Richard Perry, Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
richard.perry@villanova.edu