Cybersecurity and Information Assurance

To satisfy the requirements for the MS degree in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance, all students admitted to the program are expected to complete a minimum of 30 credit hours of graduate coursework, with a cumulative grade point average of B or better. The program of study consists of core courses, concentration courses and electives with coursework/project/thesis options. Students are required to choose one of the following three concentration areas for the program: (1) Network & System Security, (2) Data & Application Security, and (3) Software Security.

Minimum Grade Requirement in addition to maintaining a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher every semester:

• Courses in which grades of C- or below are earned cannot be used to fulfill degree requirements.
• A minimum of a 3.0 cumulative GPA or higher is required at the time of graduation.

Option 1: MS Coursework. This option requires a minimum of 30 credits be earned through coursework. The minimum requirements are as follows:

• Core courses - 9 credit hours
• Concentration courses -12 credit hours
• Elective courses - 9 credit hours

Option 2: MS Project. This option requires a project report describing the results of an independent study project under the supervision of the advisor. The minimum requirements are as follows:

• Core courses - 9 credit hours
• Concentration courses -12 credit hours
• Elective courses - 6 credit hours
• Master’s Project - 3 credit hours

Option 3: MS Thesis. This option requires a research thesis prepared under the supervision of the advisor. The minimum requirements are as follows:

• Core courses - 9 credit hours
• One concentration area - 12 credit hours
• Elective courses - 3 credit hours
• Master’s Thesis - 6 credit hours

Requirements

Core Courses

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
Required:		6
CIS 540	Foundation of Information Security
CIS 564/IMSE 570	Enterprise Information Systems
Select one of the following:		3
ACC 601	Information Technology Auditing
CIS 546	Security and Privacy in Wireless Networks
CIS 548	Security and Privacy in Cloud Computing
Total credit hours		9

 

The following specializations are provided for guidance only. Students are allowed to select elective courses from the same or different specializations. An elective course should not be the same as any course taken to satisfy concentration course requirements.

 

• Option 1: MS Coursework. Choose 9 credit hours (or 3 courses) from the following list below
•  Option 2: MS Project. Choose 6 credit hours (or 2 courses) from the following list below and CIS 695 Master's Project for 3 credits.
•  Option 3: MS Thesis. Choose 3 credit hours (or 1 course) from the following list below and CIS 699 Master’s Thesis for 6 credits.

 

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
Specialization 1: Security, Privacy, Forensics, and Auditing
ACC 505	Devel & Interp Financial Info	3
CIS 544	Computer and Network Security	3
CIS 545	Data Security and Privacy	3
CIS 546	Security and Privacy in Wireless Networks	3
CIS 548	Security and Privacy in Cloud Computing	3
CIS 549	Software Security	3
CIS 584	Advanced Computer and Network Security	3
ECE 527	Multimedia Secur & Forensics	3
HHS 570	Information Science and Ethics	3
ISM 642	Information Assurance	3
Specialization 2: Systems, Networks and Communications
CIS 527	Computer Networks	3
CIS 537	Advanced Networking and Distributed Systems	3
CIS 574	Compiler Design	3
CIS 578	Advanced Operating Systems	3
CIS 589	Edge Computing	3
CIS 647	Research Advances in Networking and Distributed Systems	3
ECE 526	Multimedia Comm Sys	3
ECE 535	Mob Dev & Ubiqys Comp Sys	3
ECE 550	Communication Theory	3
ECE 5541	Embedded Networks	3
ECE 570	Computer Networks	3
ECE 5701	Intro to Wireless Comm	3
ECE 5702	High-Speed and Adv Networks	3
ECE 531	Intelligent Vehicle Systems	3
ISM 525	Computer and Info Systems	3
Specialization 3: Data Management, Analytics, and Intelligent Systems
CIS 536	Text Mining and Information Retrieval	3
CIS 556	Database Systems	3
CIS 5570	Introduction to Big Data	3
CIS 562	Web Information Management	3
CIS 568	Data Mining	3
CIS 5700	Advanced Data Mining	3
CIS 579	Artificial Intelligence	3
CIS 581	Computational Learning	3
CIS 583	Deep Learning	3
CIS 585	Advanced Artificial Intelligence	3
CIS 586	Advanced Data Management	3
CIS 658	Research Advances in Data Management	3
ECE 531	Intelligent Vehicle Systems	3
ECE 537	Data Mining	3
ECE 552	Fuzzy Systems	3
ECE 579	Intelligent Systems	3
ECE 5831	Pat Rec & Neural Netwks	3
Specialization 4: Software Engineering
CIS 505	Algorithm Analysis and Design	3
CIS 525	Web Technology	3
CIS 535	Wireless Technologies and Pervasive Computing	3
CIS 550	Object-Oriented Programming and Its Applications	3
CIS 553	Software Engineering	3
CIS 565	Software Quality Assurance	3
CIS 566	Software Architecture and Design Patterns	3
CIS 571	Web Services	3
CIS 575	Software Engineering Mgmt	3
CIS 577	S/W User Interface Dsgn&Analys	3
CIS 580	Data Analytics in Software Engineering	3
CIS 678	Research Advances in Software Engineering	3
CIS 577	S/W User Interface Dsgn&Analys	3
Specialization 5: Human Computer Interface Design
IMSE 514	Multivariate Statistics	3
IMSE 559	System Simulation	3
IMSE 577	Human-Computer Interaction	3
IMSE 586	Big Data Aanal & Visuliztn	3
HCDE 530	Information Visualization	3
HCDE 540	Integrated Design Thinking and Implementation in Business	3
HCDE 510	Foundation of HCDE	3
HCDE 501	Human Factors and Ergonomics	3