CISA Courses

At UMBC, Information Assurance (IA) is taught both through IA Core courses that are devoted to security, and as themes in various other courses throughout the curriculum. Courses for credit are offered in computer science (CMSC), information systems (IFSM), electrical engineering (EE), computer engineering (CMPE), and policy science (POSI). Non-credit courses are offered through the Department of Professional Education and Training (DPET). The Cyber Defense Lab is available for hands-on educational exercises to support IA courses and research.

Information Assurance Core

Undergraduate

To complete an undergraduate concentration in IA, you must take any four of the IA core undergraduate or graduate courses. Certain additional new courses, internships, and independent study devoted to security may also apply with permission of the CISA Director.

• CMSC-442 Information and Coding Theory
• CMSC-443 Cryptography and Data Security
• CMSC-482 Computer Systems Security
• CMSC-491-N Network Security
• CMSC-491-USAP Unix Security Adminstration and Policy [Covers all of NSTISSI 4012 and more]
• CMSC-491-IA Information Assurance
• CMSC-491-W Wireless Security
• CMSC-491-E Electronic Commerce
• CMSC-491-X Enterprise Security (*)
• IFSM-430 Information Systems Security
• IFSM-432 Computer Viruses (*)
• IFSM-474 Legal Aspects of Information Systems

(*) Currently course offered infrequently

Graduate

To complete a graduate concentration in IA, you must take any four of the IA core graduate courses (at most one of the four courses may be an IA core undergraduate class). Certain additional new courses, internships, and independent studies devoted to security may also apply with permission of the CISA Director.

• CMSC-652 Cryptography and Data Security
• CMSC-653 Coding Theory and Applications
• CMSC-691-C Seminar in Cryptology (*)
• CMSC-691-E Electronic Commerce
• CMSC-691-I Internet Security (*)
• CMSC-691-N Network Security
• CMSC-691-W Wireless Security
• CMSC-691-IA Information Assurance
• IFSM-698 Security for Computer, Network, Internet, and E-Commerce (*)
• IFSM-698-G Electronic Government
• IFSM 740 Electronic Commerce
• POSI-610c Public Policy and Electronic Commerce (*)

(*) Currently course offered infrequently.

Courses with IA Themes

Undergraduate

These classes do not count toward the IA concentration. All students concentrating in IA are strongly urged to take CMSC-421 (operating systems) and CMSC-481 (networks).

• CMSC-201 Computer Science I for Majors
• CMSC-202 Computer Science II for Majors
• CMSC-311 Introduction to Computer Organization
• CMSC-341 Data Structures
• CMSC-345 Software Design and Development
• CMSC-411 Computer Architecture
• CMSC-421 Principles of Operating Systems
• CMSC-481 Computer Networks
• CMSC-491-Q Special Topics in Computer Science: Quantum Computation

Graduate

These classes do not count toward the IA concentration. Graduate students in IA are expected to have completed CMSC-421 (operating systems) and CMSC-481 (networks) as technical prerequisites.

• CMSC-611 Computer Architecture
• CMSC-621 Operating Systems
• CMSC-623 Mobile Computing
• CMSC-681 Networks
• CMSC-691-Q Special Topics in Computer Science: Quantum Computation and Quantum Information Science
• ENEE-610 Digital Signal Processing
• ENEE-622 Information Theory
• ENEE-624 Error Correcting Codes
• ENEE-625 Data Compression

Professional Education and Training (DPET)

• DPET-CISSP CISSP Information Security Certification
• DPET-SCEP Security Certified Network Professional
• DPET-SECURITY+ Security+ Certification