October 9, 2012
The Cybersecurity Graduate Certificate will allow students the benefit of specialization in cybersecurity in only five courses. The certificate may be completed along with a degree program or unaccompanied as a career enhancer. A graduate student who completes the five courses in the cybersecurity certificate program with an overall GPA of 3.0 or greater in those courses will receive a certificate indicating the successful completion of the cybersecurity certificate program.
Cybersecurity is basically computer security in the context of the internet. As the internet has grown into a globally pervasive presence, accessible anywhere through computers and personal handheld devices, the security of ones personal information and data is increasingly threatened by malicious entities which may be located anywhere in the world. The storage of our data in the "cloud" (such as on gmail and facebook) exposes us further to risks of exploitation, sometimes even by the companies providing the free services we have come to take for granted. The infrastructure of our societies, such as the electric grid and other utilities, are increasingly exposed and accessible through the internet, and monitoring and control systems may be subject to cyber-terrorist attacks.
There is a clear need for engineering professionals trained in cybersecurity to design and build secure systems and software, to monitor and respond to unknown and sophisticated attacks, and to participate in the evolution of cyber technology to domains we have not yet dreamed of. The proposed cybersecurity certificate is a start to fulfilling these needs in the Villanova engineering graduate program, and will represent an exciting opportunity for students to engage in the security technology of the future.
The cybersecurity certificate will enrich and expand the engineering graduate program in an area of vital importance to individuals, corporations, governments, and society.
In recent years the US federal government has made cybersecurity a priority in the areas of Identity Management, Real Time Monitoring, Situational Awareness, Intrusion Detection, Vulnerability Scanning, Application Security, and Education and Training. Through federal agencies such as NIST, NSA, and NSF, cybersecurity research funding has increased and security standards have proliferated. Corporations with federal contracts are required to follow the federal security standards, and all companies, large or small, must dedicate resources to cybersecurity if they are to survive in cyberspace. The result is an increasing demand for engineers with cybersecurity training.
Many universities have masters degree programs in cybersecurity, for example:
Penn State Intercollege Master of Professional Studies in Homeland Security
Carnegie Mellon, Master of Science in Information Security Technology and Management
University of Maryland University College Cybersecurity Master of Science
Stevens Institute of Technology, M.S. in Cybersecurity
Virginia College, Cybersecurity Master of Science
Northeastern University, Master of Science in Information Assurance
There are also many centers associated with universities and dedicated to cybersecurity, for example:
CERT (at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute)
CyLab (Carnegie Mellon Cybersecurity Education and Research Center)
NSRC (Penn State Networking and Security Research Center)
CERIAS (Purdue Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security)
CSAIL (MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory)
CSAIL CIS Group (Cryptography and Information Security Group)
There is a broad range of cybersecurity programs available to students, and with the increasing use of online/distance education, physical location of facilities hardly matters. Villanova engineering is poised to become a choice for students seeking education in cybersecurity, together with the Villanova experience, its diverse community of scholars, and dedication to the highest academic standards.
Quoting Dean Gabriele [1]:
The college of engineering statement on distance education states, in part [2]:
Using video teleconferencing, tablet PC's, and the latest rich-media web broadcast, classes can be delivered anytime, anywhere, to anyone, without compromising the quality of education. Everything in the program is broadcast live and then archived and made available to all students in the class 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In this way, the online program not only creates the online experience, but also enhances the regular in-class environment. This method of instruction provides the opportunity for students to pursue their engineering education with the flexibility that is essential in today's business world.
The cybersecurity certificate is available for students admitted to the graduate program in computer engineering.
The certificate requirements are:
At least three of the courses must be from the Cybersecurity list.
Cybersecurity Courses:
(We are planning on moving CSC 9010-002 to the ECE department so then it will have a permanent ECE course number)
Elective Courses:
All of the courses specified for the cybersecurity certificate are existing courses. No new courses are proposed or required.
All of the courses specified for the cybersecurity certificate are currently taught by existing faculty and staff members. No new faculty or staff members are required.
There are no implications for facilities, equipment, budgets, computing technology, and library for the certificate since it is just a subset of existing courses.
The certificate will be available starting Fall 2012.
A sample sequence of five courses, satisfying the requirement of at least three from the cybersecurity course list, is:
There is no impact on existing curricula.
There are no institutional accreditation implications with this new graduate certificate.
Students who obtain the cybersecurity certificate will have the fundamental background necessary to pursue research or independent study in that area. Students from industry will have the ability to apply their knowledge in the design of secure systems and development of the next generation of devices and software which will operate safely in cyberspace.
Every student who completes the cybersecurity certificate requirements will have expertise in at least three of the following areas: Trusted Computing, Cryptography & Network Security, Computer Security, Cybersecurity. Additionally, through the elective courses, every student will have additional expertise in one or more application areas where cybersecurity is implemented, such as Computer Networks, Mobile Computing & Wireless Networks, Cloud Computing, Semantic Web, Database Systems, and/or Distributed Systems.
No formal assessment of the certificate will be required for accreditation reasons. The course instruction and content will be assessed using the existing course evaluation procedures.
The cybersecurity certificate has no special needs in terms of faculty and staff, classroom, lab, or office space and/or renovations, equipment, operating budgets, library resources, or computing and other technology.