Cyber Security, MSCS

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Program Description:

The program’s strengths include a unique blend of faculty expertise, well-equipped computer science and engineering laboratory facilities, and a balance of theory, practice, hardware, and software. The M.S. degree in Cyber Security, and its NSA/DHS certified CyberDefense Concentration, are designed for individuals who want to develop skills to identify and resolve cybersecurity threats.  The degree is focused on developing knowledge and skill applicable to protecting computer systems and computer networks. Students with backgrounds in computer science, computer engineering, information systems or electrical engineering may apply to the program. Professionals working in the industry who have a strong technical background and related work experience are also encouraged to apply.

Program Prerequisites:

At least one year of formal coursework in computer programming. Formal coursework in data structures, computer organization, and operating systems is also required.

The materials covered in these courses should be equal to Wright State University courses:

• CS 1180 Computer Science I
• CS 1181 Computer Science II
• CS 3100 Data Structures and Algorithms
• CEG 4350 Operating Systems Internals and Design
• CEG 3310 Computer Organization

If you do not have a year of formal coursework in computer programming, you may show programming proficiency by:

• Taking an exam upon enrollment; or
• Taking the six credit hour preparatory course CS 5160.

Students lacking other prerequisite coursework may be assigned additional prerequisite courses upon admission.

Math Prerequisites

Knowledge of calculus linear or matrix algebra, probability, and statistics is preferred.

Admission Requirements:

The admission process is competitive.  Successful applicants will usually meet the following expectations:

• A Bachelor of Science degree in computer science, computer engineering, or a related field
• A 3.0 GPA
• A 298 combined (verbal + quantitative) GRE score.

Students with a GPA below 3.0 may be eligible for admission if their combined GRE score exceeds 298.  Likewise, students with a combined GRE below 298 may be eligible if their GPA is higher than 3.0.

The GRE requirement is waived: 

• For applicants with a bachelor’s degree in computer science or computer engineering from Wright State and a 3.3 minimum GPA
• For applicants with a graduate degree in a science, math, or engineering field from a U.S. institution

If you do not meet the admission expectations above, you may still be considered for admission. We will take into account your current academic and professional achievements when making this decision. In particular, students with a higher GPA in the last two years of their undergraduate degree, or high grades in computer science and mathematics coursework are often eligible for admission.

International Students

International students must meet English language proficiency requirements. Please contact the University Center for International Education for more information on the admissions process for international students. Note: Only US citizens and green card holders are eligible to take the CyberDefense Concentration.

Program Learning Outcomes:

• The ability to integrate and apply graduate cybersecurity knowledge to solve complex cybersecurity issues and challenges.
• The ability to understand and integrate new knowledge within the field of cybersecurity into their professional activities.
• The ability to recognize the need for, and engage in, life-long learning.
• A deeper understanding of the breadth and depth of cyberspace and the inefficiencies and shortcomings of our existing evaluation systems to deal with cybersecurity threats.
• An understanding of the unique characteristics of cyberspace and how these unique characteristics affect/influence cybersecurity threats.
• The ability to identify social, political, and economic factors/impacts of cyber threats and be able to identify and discuss ethical issues related to cybersecurity and privacy.
• Recognition of the basic concepts of cybersecurity defense and be able to use software tools for malware identification and elimination, data encryption and transmission, and key-based authentication.

Facilities:

University and college systems include a variety of servers and workstations running current operating systems including Linux, Mac OS, and Windows. Department facilities provide specialized systems and support equipment tailored to specific curriculum and research areas including Linux-based Operating Systems and Internet Security lab, an Immersive Visualization and Animation Theater lab, and a variety of workstations and personal computers providing software tools for project design and development. The program also has access to one of the most advanced visualization and presentation environments in the nation, the Appenzeller Visualization Laboratory, located in the Joshi Research Center. The Department has laboratories dedicated to research in assistive technologies, RFID, computer vision, medical image analysis, parallel and distributed computing, evolvable hardware, database systems, data mining, mobile information and communications, software engineering, artificial intelligence, advanced computer networking, semantic web services-oriented computing, scientific workflows, business process management, bioinformatics, and cybersecurity.

For more information visit:

• Cyber Security, MS
• Department of Computer Science and Engineering
• College of Engineering and Computer Science

Capstone Project Option

Program Requirements:

CYBER SECURITY CORE COURSES: 12 HOURS

• CEG 6424 - Security Attacks & Defenses Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6430 - Cyber Network Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6420 - Host Computer Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6750 - Information Security Credit Hour(s): 3

CYBER SECURITY ELECTIVES: 12 HOURS

• CEG 6324 - Digital Integrated Circuit Design with PLDs and FPGAs Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6324L - Digital Integrated Circuit Design with PLDs & FPGAs Lab Credit Hour(s): 1
• CEG 6360 - Distributed Systems & Cloud Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6410 - Mobile Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6422 - Secure Computing Practices Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6426 - Legal Aspects of Cyber Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6440 - Android Internals & Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6450 - Sensor Networks and Systems Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6900 - Special Topics in CEG Credit Hour(s): 1 to 4

• (with director approval)

• CEG 6970 - Independent Study in Computer Engineering Credit Hour(s): 1 to 6

• (With director approval, may count maximum of 3 hours toward program.)

• CEG 7050 - Trust in Integrated Circuit Design Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7370 - Distributed Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7380 - Cloud Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7420 - Reverse Engineering & Program Analysis Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7450 - Advanced Computer Networks Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7470 - Advanced Wireless Networks Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7560 - Visualization & Image Processing for Cyber Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7900 - Selected Topics in Computer Engineering Credit Hour(s): 1 to 4

• (with director approval)

• CEG 7920 - Independent Study in Computer Engineering Credit Hour(s): 1 to 6

• (With director approval, may count maximum of 3 hours toward program.)

• CEG 8920 - Independent Study in Computer Engineering Credit Hour(s): 1 to 6

• (With director approval, may count maximum of 3 hours toward program.)

• CS 6290 - Cryptography and Data Security Credit Hour(s): 3

• OR

• MTH 6290 - Cryptography and Data Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CS 6900 - Special Topics in Computer Science Credit Hour(s): 1 to 4

• (with director approval)

• CS 6970 - Independent Study in Computer Science Credit Hour(s): 1 to 6

• (With director approval, may count maximum of 3 hours toward program.)

• CS 7600 - Trust Networks Credit Hour(s): 3
• CS 7850 - Privacy Aware Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CS 7900 - Special Topics in Computer Science Credit Hour(s): 1 to 4

• (with director approval)

• CS 7920 - Independent Study in Computer Science Credit Hour(s): 1 to 6

• (With director approval, may count maximum of 3 hours toward program.)

• CS 8920 - Independent Study in Computer Science Credit Hour(s): 1 to 6

• (With director approval, may count maximum of 3 hours toward program.)

• EE 7400 - Information Theory Credit Hour(s): 3
• EE 7550 - Trust in Integrated Circuit Design Credit Hour(s): 3

PROJECT: 6 HOURS

• CS 7960 - Capstone Project - Cyber Security Credit Hour(s): 1 to 12

Total: 30 Hours

Thesis Option

Program Requirements:

CYBER SECURITY CORE COURSES: 12 HOURS

• CEG 6424 - Security Attacks & Defenses Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6430 - Cyber Network Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6420 - Host Computer Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6750 - Information Security Credit Hour(s): 3

CYBER SECURITY ELECTIVES: 9 HOURS

• EE 7400 - Information Theory Credit Hour(s): 3
• EE 7550 - Trust in Integrated Circuit Design Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6324 - Digital Integrated Circuit Design with PLDs and FPGAs Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6324L - Digital Integrated Circuit Design with PLDs & FPGAs Lab Credit Hour(s): 1
• CEG 6360 - Distributed Systems & Cloud Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6410 - Mobile Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6422 - Secure Computing Practices Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6426 - Legal Aspects of Cyber Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6440 - Android Internals & Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6450 - Sensor Networks and Systems Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6900 - Special Topics in CEG Credit Hour(s): 1 to 4

• (with director approval)

• CEG 6970 - Independent Study in Computer Engineering Credit Hour(s): 1 to 6

• (With director approval, may count maximum of 3 hours toward program.)

• CEG 7050 - Trust in Integrated Circuit Design Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7420 - Reverse Engineering & Program Analysis Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7450 - Advanced Computer Networks Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7470 - Advanced Wireless Networks Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7370 - Distributed Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7380 - Cloud Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7560 - Visualization & Image Processing for Cyber Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7900 - Selected Topics in Computer Engineering Credit Hour(s): 1 to 4

• (with director approval)

• CEG 7920 - Independent Study in Computer Engineering Credit Hour(s): 1 to 6

• (With director approval, may count maximum of 3 hours toward program.)

• CEG 8920 - Independent Study in Computer Engineering Credit Hour(s): 1 to 6

• (With director approval, may count maximum of 3 hours toward program.)

• CS 6290 - Cryptography and Data Security Credit Hour(s): 3

• OR

• MTH 6290 - Cryptography and Data Security Credit Hour(s): 3

• (With director approval, may count maximum of 3 hours toward program.)

• CS 6900 - Special Topics in Computer Science Credit Hour(s): 1 to 4

• (with director approval)

• CS 6970 - Independent Study in Computer Science Credit Hour(s): 1 to 6

• (With director approval, may count maximum of 3 hours toward program.)

• CS 7600 - Trust Networks Credit Hour(s): 3
• CS 7850 - Privacy Aware Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CS 7900 - Special Topics in Computer Science Credit Hour(s): 1 to 4

• (with director approval)

• CS 7920 - Independent Study in Computer Science Credit Hour(s): 1 to 6

• (With director approval, may count maximum of 3 hours toward program.)

• CS 8920 - Independent Study in Computer Science Credit Hour(s): 1 to 6

• (With director approval, may count maximum of 3 hours toward program.)

THESIS: 9 HOURS

Submission of an approved master’s thesis is required.

• CEG 7950 - Master’s Thesis Research in Computer Engineering Credit Hour(s): 1 to 12

• OR

• CS 7950 - Master’s Thesis Research in Computer Science Credit Hour(s): 1 to 12

OR

CYBERDEFENSE CONCENTRATION

NSA/DHS CAE-CD CYBERDEFENSE CONCENTRATION CORE COURSES: 18 HOURS

• CEG 6420 - Host Computer Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6422 - Secure Computing Practices Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6424 - Security Attacks & Defenses Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6426 - Legal Aspects of Cyber Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6430 - Cyber Network Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6750 - Information Security Credit Hour(s): 3

CYBER SECURITY ELECTIVES: 3 HOURS

• MTH 6290 - Cryptography and Data Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• EE 7400 - Information Theory Credit Hour(s): 3
• EE 7550 - Trust in Integrated Circuit Design Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6324 - Digital Integrated Circuit Design with PLDs and FPGAs Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6360 - Distributed Systems & Cloud Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6410 - Mobile Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6440 - Android Internals & Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 6450 - Sensor Networks and Systems Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7050 - Trust in Integrated Circuit Design Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7370 - Distributed Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7380 - Cloud Computing Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7420 - Reverse Engineering & Program Analysis Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7450 - Advanced Computer Networks Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7470 - Advanced Wireless Networks Credit Hour(s): 3
• CEG 7560 - Visualization & Image Processing for Cyber Security Credit Hour(s): 3
• CS 7600 - Trust Networks Credit Hour(s): 3
• CS 7850 - Privacy Aware Computing Credit Hour(s): 3

THESIS: 9 HOURS

Total: 30 Hours