Cybersecurity comes to college classrooms

Md. campuses add degrees, certificate programs

Posted: 5:15 pm Fri, August 27, 2010
By Alan Dessoff

At Anne Arundel Community College, you can learn how to prevent computer hacking in a course called “Certified Ethical Hacking and Countermeasures” — its wording a subtle nod to cybersecurity’s ongoing impact on the region’s economy.

“It sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s for real,” said Kelly Koermer, dean of the School of Business, Computing & Technical Studies.

Montgomery College has a new course that teaches the techniques and tools of digital forensics investigations. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County has a cyber defense laboratory, and an internship program at facilities like the National Security Agency.

From technical certificates to master’s degrees, higher-education institutions in the state are ramping up their curricula to prepare students for the 21st-century workplace, and in Maryland, that includes a lot of jobs in the high-tech, cybersecurity world. And that starts with many of the up to 60,000 positions expected to come into the state through the federal Base Realignment and Closure process.

Hard numbers on Maryland campuses can be hard to come by, but for higher- education administrators, “we know there is going to be a tremendous demand for people with a background in relevant fields,” said John S. Stephenson, BRAC coordinator and cybersecurity liaison for the Maryland Higher Education Commission.

Undergraduate degrees in any of the science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or STEM, fields are “a valuable start,” he added.

An estimated 30,000 cybersecurity jobs are coming to the Baltimore-Washington, D.C.-area alone, according to the University of Maryland University College, which is launching new cyber bachelor’s and master’s degree programs this fall. Applications are “pouring in,” said Chip Cassano, a UMUC spokesman.

At Harford Community College, enrollment in some cybersecurity courses has almost doubled since 2008, said John Mayhorne, dean for business, computing and applied technology.

“It’s a hot topic,” said David Hall, professor of information technology and director of the CyberWatch Center at Montgomery College, where a growing number of students are choosing cybersecurity majors.   A valuable mix

Administrators describe the need for cyber education as very complex, covering a wide variety of subject matter and titles. When focus groups looked last year at revamping UMBC’s electrical and computer engineering master’s degree programs, they concluded that cybersecurity was “the hot area to go into, with a lot of need there,” said Chris Morris, associate vice provost for continuing and professional studies at UMBC.

That led to a new master’s program, “Professional Studies in Cybersecurity,” that UMBC is kicking off in January. It will provide “a valuable mix” of technical as well as strategy- and policy-related courses, Morris said.

Most specialized programs, whether leading to degrees or certificates, fall under the broad titles of cybersecurity, information assurance, information systems security, and others.

“It’s all the same stuff, essentially,” said Hall of Montgomery College.

Information assurance is commonly used because the federal Center for National Security Standards designates the top educational institutions in the field as Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education. UMBC, the Anne Arundel, Hagerstown, Harford, Montgomery and Prince George’s community colleges, and the U.S. Naval Academy are among institutions in Maryland with the designation.

At Anne Arundel Community College, an associate of applied science degree in information and cyber security requires at least 61 credit hours and prepares students for entry-level jobs. Required courses include “Microcomputer Operating Systems,” “Tactical Perimeter Defense” and “Strategic Infrastructure Security.”     Cyber warrior needs

Other community colleges in the state offer similar programs. Required courses in Montgomery College’s A.A.S. degree and certificate programs in information systems security include “Hardening the Infrastructure,” “Microcomputer Control Programs,” and “Network Defense and Countermeasures.” The new “Introduction to Digital Forensics” course is an elective.

Generally, degrees require students to take additional general education courses, while certificates don’t. Harford Community College’s certificate in information systems security is for students “who may already have degrees in other areas like English or math or philosophy and just want some specific, more technical courses,” said Mayhorne.

The new bachelor’s degree program at UMUC requires students to complete 41 credits in general education and 33 credits in courses like “Computer Forensics,” “Cyber Crime” and “Cyber Terrorism.” They can complete the program fully online or in a hybrid format that combines online study with face-to-face instruction. At UMUC, starting this fall, students can earn a B.S. or M.S. degree in cyber security, or an M.S. in cyber security policy, completely online.

Colleges in the Baltimore-Washington area began to see a need for more cybersecurity programs in the late 1990s. With a $3 million grant in 2005 from the National Science Foundation, Prince George’s Community College established CyberWatch, an advanced technological education center, to boost the quantity and quality of the cybersecurity workplace. Montgomery, Anne Arundel, Baltimore County and Northern Virginia community colleges were among the center’s first members.

Still concentrated in Maryland and headquartered at PGCC, CyberWatch now includes 24 community colleges and 114 universities across 15 states.

Meanwhile, in June, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded a $4.9 million grant to AACC and the Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corp. to lead a “Pathways to Cybersecurity Career Consortium” to train workers for the new U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade.

That’s where AACC’s new course on ethical hacking fits in, said Koermer, as the college expands its curriculum to address the “cyber warrior” needs — even the seemingly oxymoronic ones — of the new command as well as the broader cybersecurity workforce.