With society’s ever increasing reliance on connected devices and information systems, the need to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of these technology systems has never been greater.
What You'll Learn
Oregon Tech’s Cybersecurity degree is designed to create business-savvy IT security professionals who not only protect organizations and their information systems, but also serve as key business partners. Graduates will be ready to transition seamlessly from classroom to the workforce.
As “industry’s university,” and one of the top polytechnic universities in the Pacific Northwest, the standalone Cybersecurity degree aligns with Oregon Tech’s mission to provide applicable, hands-on experience for students in the changing workforce environment. Cybersecurity experts, Professors Dan Carrere and Tracey Coon, along with Information Technology Professors, Jeff Dickson and Lindy Stewart, specifically developed the degree to meet industry’s needs.
Cybersecurity has emerged as a unique profession specializing in the technologies, processes and practices designed to protect networks, computers, programs and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access. Many careers in cybersecurity combine knowledge and skills from other disciplines such as computer science, information technology, and business, along with expertise in specialized topics that are unique to cybersecurity.
The Cybersecurity degree program at Oregon Tech provides students with the fundamental understanding of how computer and information systems operate, and the methods and techniques used to protect them. This degree will prepare graduates to enter the Cybersecurity profession with the knowledge and skills necessary to obtain entry to mid-level positions in a variety of industries.
Jobs and Careers in Cybersecurity
By holding an accredited cybersecurity degree, students will have abundant job opportunities in a variety of positions such as security analysts, security engineers, cryptographers, security architects, security administrators, cryptanalysts, security software developers, and security consultants. Security professionals are needed in all industries including public and private businesses, as well as across a multitude of government agencies. The Global Information Security Workforce Study finds that the cybersecurity workforce gap is on pace to hit 1.8 million by 2022 – a 20% increase since 2015.
Further, Michael Brown, CEO of Symantec, the world’s largest security software supplier noted that, “The demand for the (cybersecurity) workforce is expected to rise to 6 million globally by 2019, with a projected shortfall of 1.5 million.” The Cisco 2014 Annual Security Report warns that the worldwide shortage of IT security professionals is at 1 million openings already.
Career Paths:
Featured Courses
The curriculum for the B.S. in Cybersecurity focuses on the topics that have been identified by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST), as essential to developing a workforce with the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities to defend both public and private networks and systems. This is an “outside-in” approach to structuring a cybersecurity degree in which Oregon Tech looks to the current and future needs of industry and builds a program based on that, not a “inside-out” approach to curricular development.
The cybersecurity degree curriculum is holistic in its approach, as students are taught how to think as an “ethical hacker,” learn to protect business information systems, and are introduced to cyber operations and analysis. This three-tiered approach integrates core business coursework, as well as generating skilled graduates ready to transition seamlessly from the classroom to the workforce
Systems Administration
Covers fundamental skills required to install and manage a Windows Server. Topics covered include installing and configuring Active Directory, domain controllers, DNS, users and group definition, print ques, network roles and services and application servers.
Cybersecurity Fundamentals
Covers fundamental cybersecurity concepts such as threats, attacks, and vulnerabilities; confidentiality, integrity, and availability; common cybersecurity technologies and tools; security architecture and design principles; identity and access management; risk management; and cryptography.
Hacker Tools and Techniques
Introduces how “hackers” operate and the techniques, tools and processes they use to gain unauthorized access to systems, and how to best protect and defend systems from these same types of attack. Students will learn how to conduct basic security testing or “ethical hacking” to identify potential weaknesses in an organization’s network and computer systems.
Systems Analysis
Planning and Analysis phases of Systems Development Life Cycle. Focuses on software development life cycles; entity relationships, data flow diagrams, prototyping, and more.
Network Security
Examines tools and techniques used for securing IP based networks, with a specific focus on Firewalls and VPNs. Topics include stateful inspection firewall basics, explicit proxy, deep-packet inspection, intrusion detection and prevention systems, network based anti-virus, email filtering, data loss prevention, and more.
Cloud Computing
Introduces the technologies and services that enable cloud computing, different types of cloud computing services (SaaS, PaaS, DaaS, and IaaS), deployment models (Public, Private, and Hybrid) and the security and legal issues associated with cloud computing.