Program Overview

The Cybersecurity certificate is suitable for entry-level positions in the computer science or information technology fields, senior system managers or system administrators, or technical professionals looking to broaden their skill set or transition into security from adjacent fields such as criminal justice, business and finance, or healthcare. Practical examples of recent security breaches will be discussed (such as recent high profile attacks at Sony, Target, and other corporations) to illustrate applications of the course materials. Course material fulfill curriculum requirements from the U.S. government and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), including required topics for training security professionals under the Information Assurance Courseware Evaluation Program established by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).  The course also covers all key areas of the CISSP Common Body of Knowledge, among others [1]. Although the certificate assumes no prior experience in cybersecurity, recommended prerequisites include familiarity with introductory programming principles and data networking; there are no specific computer language prerequisites for this certificate. The Networking prerequisite can be fulfilled by enrolling in Data Communication & Networks, CMPT 306.

Each course includes an online virtual lab accessible from a web browser and hosted in a secure cloud computing environment. Students will gain practical, hands-on experience with real world tools such as WireShark, Nmap, PuTTY, Metasploit, Filezilla, and more, in addition to fundamental security administration using Windows, Apple, and Linux operating systems. In addition, each week the courses review case studies of recent prominent cyberattacks, which are the subject of class discussions in the course online forums. The program of study is developed and presented by Prof. Casimer DeCusatis, Ph.D., a technical expert with over 24 years industry experience; among his many credentials, he is a Cisco Distinguished Speaker, Fellow of the IEEE, OSA, and SPIE, holder of over 140 issued U.S. patents, and co-author of nearly 200 technical papers, books, and encyclopedia articles.

 

100% online | Instructor-led | Available worldwide

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[1] Course labs cover required topics for CISSP certification from the (ISC) 2 consortium, based on the NIST Risk Management Framework, and all topics requires for U.S. Government courseware certification NSTISSI 4011: National Training Standard for Information Systems Security (INFOSEC) Professionals http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_on_National_Security_Systems. All course materials map to requirements from the following organizations: National Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE)/Cyber Defense Education Program NSA/DHS sponsored program through CISSE http://www.cisse.info/ ; National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity Workforce Framework https://www.nist.gov/itl/applied-cybersecurity/nice/resources/nice-cybersecurity-workforce-framework; the DHS National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies (NICSS) http://niccs.us-cert.gov/ ; Department of Defense Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy (DCWS) and Workforce Development Framework (CWDF) including DoDD 8570.01 Information Assurance Training, Certification and Workforce Management (emerging).

 

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