CST - Cybersecurity Graduate Program

CYB 700 Cr.3

Fundamentals of Cybersecurity

This course introduces fundamental concepts and design principles in cybersecurity. Students learn what, why, and how to protect in the cyberworld. Topics include CIA (confidentiality, integrity, and availability), threats, attacks, defense, secure design principles, access control and password management, security policies, critical controls, incident-handling and contingency planning, risk assessment and management. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 701 Cr.3

IT and Operating Systems Security

This course introduces students to fundamental concepts of modern computing environments and their security implications. Students explore information technology components including computer hardware, networks, and operating systems while developing practical knowledge of endpoint protection, vulnerability management, and security controls. Emphasis is placed on both technical understanding and security awareness. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 703 Cr.3

Network Security

This course offers the basic knowledge of architectures, cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and defensive techniques for securing networks. The course addresses firewall functionalities, configurations, and managements. Different architectures of virtual private networks (VPNs) for securing communication assets are presented with various implementation considerations. Students learn essentials of network analysis tools, monitoring, and policy development. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 705 Cr.3

Cyber Crime

This course explores the landscapes of cyberspace focusing on cyber threats, actors, and attacks. Students examine privacy issues, legal frameworks, and protective measures at individual, organizational, and governmental levels. Topics include cyber crime, cyber-stalking, and the effectiveness of cybersecurity strategies in preventing digital abuse and criminal activity. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 707 Cr.3

Cybersecurity Program Planning and Management

This course provides instruction on the process used to develop and maintain appropriate security levels for an organization with a focus on implementing a comprehensive security program, a documented set of security policies, procedures, guidelines, and standards. Topics include security planning, strategies, controls, and metrics for measuring the effectiveness. Prerequisite: CYB 700. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 710 Cr.3

Introduction to Cryptography

This course introduces the fundamentals of applied cryptography, including encryption and decryption, symmetric and asymmetric systems, pseudorandom functions, block ciphers, hash functions, common attacks, digital signatures, key exchange, message authentication and public key cryptography. It covers implementation of cryptographic systems in an approved programming language, and survey of relevant mathematical concepts, including elementary number theory. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 715 Cr.3

IT Security Risk Management

In this course, students master risk management processes by focusing on risk assessment methodologies to perform comprehensive security risk analyses. Students categorize and evaluate technological, individual, and enterprise risks, and effectively communicate these risks, and recommend appropriate responses. Students also learn how risk relates to system security policies to develop system-specific security programs by choosing optimal methodologies. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 720 Cr.3

Cybersecurity Ethics & Communication

This course is a study of the ways that communication, ethics, and cybersecurity intersect in relation to employment. In addition to ethical frameworks, students learn to present technical information to audiences with varying goals and technical needs. Presentations and projects emulate professional scenarios in cybersecurity. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 725 Cr.3

Digital Forensics

This course provides instruction on the investigative and forensics processes of digital evidence with a focus on identifying indicators of compromise, the use of common forensics tools, and the preservation of forensics tools. Topics include forensics iconology, and the analysis of disk, memory, chip-off, mobile device, and OS artifacts. Prerequisite: CYB 701. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 730 Cr.3

Computer Criminology

This course is a primer on modern criminology with specific attention to the aspects of technology that facilitate criminal behaviors. Topics include computer crime laws, criminological theories of computer crime, court room and evidentiary procedure, idiographic and nomothetic digital profiling, computer crime victimology, habit/authorship attribution, stylometry, and case linkage analysis. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 735 Cr.3

Network Forensics

This course covers protocol analysis, identification of malicious behavior in systems, and forensic investigations through event log aggregation, correlation and analysis. Students will analyze clips of wired and wireless network protocol analysis to discern methods of attacks and malicious activities. Prerequisite: CYB 703. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 740 Cr.3

Incident Response and Remediation

Students will learn about the phases of an incident response system, and the use of IDS and forensics, dealing with false alarms and the remediation process to minimize business impact, plan business continuity, and work with law enforcement, auditors, insurance, and compliance in how to prevent future incidents. Prerequisite: CYB 700, CYB 703, CYB 705, CYB 707, CYB 715, and CYB 720. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 745 Cr.3

Secure Operating Systems

This course covers operating systems security infrastructure. Topics include, for a given operating system (Windows/Linux), updates and patches, access controls and account management, configuration management, hardening and securing services, and the use of scripting languages to automate security management. Additional topics may include auditing and forensics, virtualization and cloud computing. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 750 Cr.3

Offensive Security and Threat Management

This course covers active defenses such as penetration testing, log management, hacking, threat management and system posturing. Students completing this course will have an understanding of, and the ability to preemptively secure computer and network resources by utilizing information about threats, actors and attack vectors and the ethics behind using this data. Prerequisite: CYB 700, CYB 703. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 755 Cr.3

Security Administration

This course covers the policy and governance aspects of security. Topics include application of security policies, standards, procedures and guidelines to administration of IT and communications, assessment of compliance including contractual, legal, industry standard, privacy and regulatory requirements, and implementation of security audits and assessment of security performance and security policy efficacy. Prerequisite: CYB 700, CYB 703, CYB 705, CYB 707, CYB 715, and CYB 720. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 760 Cr.3

Cybersecurity Leadership and Team Dynamics

This course focuses on leadership best practices and the interpersonal processes and structural characteristics that influence the effectiveness of teams. Emphasis will be placed on leadership models, principles of team building, group dynamics, problem solving, and crisis management in cybersecurity issues. Course will include case studies of modern security incidents. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 765 Cr.3

Security Program Management

This course is an introduction to cybersecurity program management and compliance. Students explore the development, implementation, and evaluation of security programs taking relevant legal and regulatory requirements into account. Topics include security policies, incident response, federal regulations, and emerging security challenges in today's digital landscape. Prerequisite: CYB 700. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 770 Cr.3

Security Architecture

This course focuses on security architectures for the protection of information systems and data. Students master identifying potential vulnerabilities in system architectures and design robust, secure architectures tailored to specific applications. Topics include common enterprise and security architectures, secure cloud computing, virtualization platforms, and the application of industry standards like the Zero Trust model. Prerequisite: CYB 703. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 775 Cr.3

Advanced Cryptography

This course provides an in-depth study of modern cryptography. Topics include public key and private key cryptography, types of attacks, key management, perfect secrecy, hashing, digital signatures, virtual private networks, and quantum key cryptography. Topics from number theory and discrete probability and statistics necessary for understanding current cryptosystems and their security are covered. Prerequisite: CYB 710. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 780 Cr.3

Software Security

This course emphasizes both proactive and reactive measures and systematic evaluation techniques for identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities and potential flaws in software systems that could be exploited by malicious actors. The course focuses on the examination of software structure and behavior, either by directly reviewing code or observing its execution in controlled environments such that vulnerabilities are caught early in the development lifecycle or during regular security assessments. The objective is to integrate security into the entire software development process, minimizing risks and enhancing the overall resilience of software systems against cyber threats. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 785 Cr.3

Cyber Physical System Security

This course covers the fundamentals and techniques to design and implement cyber physical systems. Topics include the architecture of cyber physical systems, exploiting software vulnerabilities, secure coding, microservices security, cloud services security, reverse engineering, security assessment of cyber physical systems, and data analytics for security. Prerequisite: CYB 775. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 789 Cr.1

Cybersecurity Pre-Capstone

This course prepares students for the capstone experience. Drawing on skills learned, students submit a written project proposal - with organization, timeline, learning objectives, and specific deliverables identified - for faculty approval. This course is a prerequisite for the capstone course. Prerequisite: CYB 700, CYB 701, CYB 703, CYB 705, CYB 720. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.

CYB 790 Cr.3

Cybersecurity Capstone

Students present the project identified in capstone preparation and submit a written report plus oral presentation to both faculty and host organization. Students will be assessed on clarity and content of their written report and presentation. Prerequisite: CYB 789. Consent of department. Offered Fall, Spring, Summer.