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Cybersecurity

Program Director, Professor, and Dean: Dr. Stephen Addison (College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics), saddison@uca.edu / 450-3199

[1] Program Purposes

The multidisciplinary program in Cybersecurity is designed to produce graduates who can identify, assess, and manage cyber threats.

[2] Program Requirements

The Bachelor of Science (BS) in Cybersecurity requires successful completion of 120 hours, including (1) the UCA Core: complete 39 hours to meet lower-division UCA Core requirements and complete upper-division UCA Core requirements using major, minor, or elective courses (see the UCA Core requirements); (2) degree requirements; and (3) major requirements outlined below. This program does not require a minor.

Abbreviation Key – UCA Core Program
UD = Upper Division
C = Effective Communication
D = Diversity
I = Critical Inquiry
R = Responsible Living
Z = Capstone Experience

[2.1] Program Requirements and the Lower-Division UCA Core

The following program requirements also fulfill requirements within the lower-division UCA Core:

MATH 1491 Applied Calculus or MATH 1496 Calculus I
MGMT 2301 Business Communications
PSCI 1330 US Government and Politics (American History/Government) and/or PSCI 2300 Introduction to International Relations (Social Science) [Note 1]

Note 1

All majors must take either PSCI 1330 or PSCI 2300; for those in the Cybersecurity Strategic Policy concentration, both courses are required. Both courses are, however, prerequisites for PSCI 3316, a requirement in all three concentrations, so all majors will ultimately need to complete both. Because each of these courses meets a different requirement of the lower-division UCA Core, we therefore recommend completing both during the first year, thus simultaneously meeting prerequisite requirements for PSCI 3316 and two requirements of the LD UCA Core.

[2.2] Required Cybersecurity Core (54 credit hours)

CSCI 1470 Computer Science I
CSCI 1480 Computer Science II
CSCI 2320 Data Structures
CSCI 3330 Algorithms
CSCI 3335 Networking
CSCI 3360 Database Systems [UD UCA Core: C]
CSCI 3380 Computer Architecture
CSCI 4300 Operating Systems
CSCI 4315 Information Security [UD UCA Core: R]
CSEC 2300 Introduction to Cybersecurity
CSEC 3300 Introduction to Number Theory and Cryptography
CSEC 4490 Cybersecurity Capstone [UD UCA Core: Z]
CSEC 3320 Computer Forensics
MIS 4355 Project Management
MIS 4361 Cybersecurity Governance and Policy
PHIL 3320 Ethics [UD UCA Core: I, R] or PHIL 3325 Political Philosophy [UD UCA Core: I, R] or PHIL 4320 Applied Ethics [UD UCA Core: D, R] [Note 2]
PSCI 3316 Cybersecurity Law and Policy [UC UCA Core: C]

Note 2

A student who has taken or plans to take PHIL 4320 in the Cybersecurity core will need to select in the General Electives category a course with the [UD UCA Core: I] designation; a student who has taken or plans to take PHIL 3320 or 3325 in the Cybersecurity core will need to select in the General Electives category a course with the [UD UCA Core: D] designation.

[2.3] Cybersecurity Concentration (12 credit hours)

Students majoring in Cybersecurity will be required to complete one of the following concentrations.

[2.3.1] Cybersecurity Strategic Policy

PSCI 4301 Civil Liberties [UD UCA Core: I]
PSCI 4340 Seminar in Selected Topics: International Terrorism/Counter-Terrorism
PSCI 3369 Cyber Citizenship
PSCI 4388 American Foreign Policy

[2.3.2] Management of Cybersecurity

MIS 3321 Managing Systems and Technology
MIS 4360 Principles of Information Security
MIS 4380 Business Intelligence
MIS 3382 Internship or another advanced course approved by the chair

[2.3.3] Cyberphysical Security

CSEC 4320 Ethical Hacking
CSEC 4335 Network Security
CSEC 4345 Cyberphysical Security
CSCI 3375 Internship in Computer Science or another advanced course approved by the chair

[2.4] Required Statistics/Mathematics Courses (6 credit hours)

MATH 2311 Elementary Statistics or QMTH 2330 Business Statistics or PSCI 2312 Statistical Methods for Political Analysis
MATH 2330 Discrete Structures I

[2.5] General Electives (9 credit hours)

This degree program requires nine credit hours of general elective coursework. One course in this category will need to be used to complete UD UCA Core requirements. See Note 2 above.

[3] Course Links

Follow this link for CSCI course descriptions: course link.

Follow this link for CSEC course descriptions: course link.

Follow this link for MATH course descriptions: course link.

Follow this link for MIS course descriptions: course link.

Follow this link for PHIL course descriptions: course link.

Follow this link for PSCI course descriptions: course link.