Computer Security Certificate

The Computer Science Department's Undergraduate Certificate in Computer Security is certified by NSA for the quality of its cyber-security education and is designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE).

CAE Designation Logo

This standalone certificate is intended for students who wish to focus on the computer/network security aspects of Computer Science. 

  1. This standalone certificate will appear on your transcript.

  2. Computer science majors can complete the certificate requirements in full without prolonging the Bachelor's degree.

Certificate in Computer Security Requirements: 

To satisfy the certificate, the following Prerequisite and Core Security courses must be taken, with a minimum grade of C– and an overall GPA of 2.0 in all required courses:

Prerequisite Security Courses  (31 credits) Core Security Courses (12 credits)
CSC 141: Computer Science I CSC 302: Computer Security
CSC 142: Computer Science II CSC 335: Data Communications and Networking I
MAT 151: Introduction to Discrete Mathematics CSC 471: Modern Malware Analysis
MAT 161: Calculus I CSC 472: Software Security
CSC 220: Foundations of Computer Science  
CSC 231: Computer Systems  
CSC 240: Computer Science III  
CSC 241: Data Structures and Algorithms  
CSC 301: Computer Security and Ethics  
CSC 402: Software Engineering  
(these courses are required for all CS majors) (these elective courses for CS majors count towards the upper-level major credit requirement)

Additional Information:

 

Certificate in Computer Security Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyze and resolve security issues in networks and computer systems to secure an IT infrastructure
  2. Implement secure measurements to protect networks, secure electronic assets, prevent attacks, ensure privacy, and build secure infrastructures that respect ethical principles
  3. Communicate effectively with IT professionals and key business stakeholders
  4. Understand legal requirement and regulations on cybersecurity

CSC 301 Learning Outcomes


1. Understand Computer Security, including the ethical foundations upon which this subject rests
2. Properly use the Vocabulary associated with cybersecurity
3. Understand the Federal, State, and Local Cyber Defense structures
4. Explain and examine diverse ethical dilemmasContent

CSC 302 Learning Outcomes

1. Understand important topics of computer security, such as security concepts, principles, components, architectures, ethical and legal issues.
2. Design, implement and evaluate a secure network system.
3. Apply mathematical foundations, algorithm principles, and computer science theory in topics such as cryptographic operations and security architecture.
4. Work effectively both independently and in teams through hand-on lab activities and team projects.
5. Find technical information from the web and other sources when they do assignments and project.Content

CSC 335 Learning Outcomes

1. Enable you to communicate effectively with communications/networking professionals

2. Perform simple analyses of communications systems and networks

3. Describe the fundamental concepts, technologies, components and issues related to communications and data networks 

4. Relate user requirements to system/network capabilities and characteristics

5. Understand terminology, system context, basics of underlying network technologies and protocols

CSC 471 Learning Outcomes

1.  Student understand how to mitigate certain type of real-world malware attack.

2.  Student is able to performstatic/dynamic analysis using forensics tools (e.g. Volatility) to find system malware and prevent attacks.

CSC 472 Learning Outcomes

1.  Student is able read assembly and C code to analyze and resolve security issues (e.g. Stack overflow vulnerability)
2.  Student is able to write Python script with pwntools library to analyze security issues.
3.  Student is able to use the knowledge of software security to design a system to guarantee data integrity.
4.  Student understand the basic software protection mechanism (ASLR, 5.  StackGuard, DEP, PIE) and know how to enable/disable them to build a secure software.