Cybersecurity Minor

An MSST student smiling with a brick and greystone building in the background. Overlay text reads, "Become a cybersecurity leader."

Gain the Skills to Prevent, Protect and Respond to Cybersecurity Demands

The protection of the information and systems businesses and individuals rely on is a unique and growing challenge. The Cybersecurity minor integrates the fields of technology, security and management to empower engineers, technology or business professionals with the knowledge to adapt and lead in this emerging field.

Develop In-Depth Understanding

The Cybersecurity minor provides graduate students with the skills to assume a leadership role in cybersecurity or continue their field of study with a focus on cybersecurity. Each course gives students an opportunity to practice communications, teamwork and project management skills as applied in the context of cybersecurity.

Be a Leader in Cybersecurity

The career opportunities for cybersecurity leaders, experts and engineers are growing:

  • The number of cybersecurity job postings has grown 94% since 2013, compared to only 30% for IT positions overall.
  • More than 20 new disciplines have been created, ranging from specialized technical engineers to new cyber risk management positions.
  • Many of these roles did not exist even three or four years ago, and there is a need for more trained professionals to step into these roles.

 

Download the Cybersecurity Graduate Minor Program

Prerequisites

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In order to pursue the Cybersecurity graduate minor, you must meet the following prerequisites:

  • Bachelor’s degree from an accredited program
  • Currently enrolled in a master’s or doctoral degree program at the University of Minnesota
  • 3.0 GPA from all prior coursework
  • All students are required to consent to and successfully pass a background check in order to enroll in Security Technologies (ST) courses

    Course Requirements and Electives

    Two courses are required for the minor. These courses may also be taken by students who do not plan to complete a full minor. In addition, students have several elective courses to select from to complete the minor. Course details can be found in the menu below.

    Cybersecurity Minor Curriculum

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    Required Courses

    Fall and Summer

    ST 5661 Securing Cyberspace - Fundamentals (3 credits)
    Gain the comprehensive technical and logical foundation for defending an organization against cybersecurity threats through focused instruction and practice in cyber defense theory. Topics covered include access control, cryptography, network security, securing operating systems, securing web applications, and securing wireless and mobile.

    Spring and Summer

    ST 5662 Securing Cyberspace - Advanced (3 credits)
    In the second of a two-course sequence, expand on the foundations acquired in ST 8661 by focusing on operations security, vulnerability and pen testing, incident handling, cyber forensics, cyber warfare, and privacy, law and compliance.

    Elective Courses

    MDI 5101 Intro to Medical Device Cybersecurity (3 credits)
    This course will introduce the student to all the security-specific activities needed to meet regulatory and customer expectations across the entire medical device lifecycle. This begins at the concept phase, where a comprehensive understanding of the security user needs are gathered, through security requirements and security risk management activities to develop a secure device architecture.  Emphasis on security testing and post-market vulnerability management are also essential goals.

    ST 8113 Cyber & Information Security Management (2 credits; offered every Spring)
    Develop an understanding of vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure systems to failure—focusing on cyberterrorism—and recommended security solutions for operational levels of trust.

    * This course will not count as an elective for students enrolled in the ST program.

    ST 8513 Cyber Threat Intelligence (2 credits; offered every Spring)
    Gain forward-looking insights into cyber threat intelligence analysis, including all phases of the intelligence lifecycle: requirements development, collection, analysis methods, and reports/briefings for organizational leaders to influence risk-based decisions.

    Other courses that have been approved as electives include:

    • CSCI 5271 Introduction to Computer Security (3 credits)
    • CSCI 5471 Modern Cryptography (3 credits)
    • CSCI 8271 Security and Privacy in Computing (3 credits)

     

     

     

     

    Note: To earn a graduate minor, students must be enrolled in a University of Minnesota master’s degree program.

    Non-Degree Seeking Students

    Select courses in the Cybersecurity minor are also open to non-degree seeking students. These courses provide great professional development for industry professionals.

    Explore Your Options

    Interested in our Minors?

     Please contact David Nguyen (dhn@umn.edu) to see how the Graduate Cybersecurity Minor could best serve you.

    Schedule a Meeting  Request More Information