Nursing Practice (DNP

Plan B (Directed Project): GCYSEC 698

The student is required to complete a 3-credit independent/team IAC project and to pass a final oral examination covering the student’s project area and related subject areas. The content of the independent/ team project can be either (1) study and development of a prototype-level application culminating in a publishablequality technical report. The content should represent a researched and creative expression of the student’s advanced capability as a result of the graduate program. The directed development project must be proposed and approved prior to the commencement of the independent/team project work. Proposals must be approved prior to registering for project credits. Per department guidelines, directed project students register for GCYSEC 698 Directed Project when completing the development effort and after having received agreement from a faculty member to be the chair of the student’s development effort.

While enrolled in GCYSEC 698 and GCYSEC 699 Directed Research, the student is required to satisfy other departmentstipulated activities such as attendance at research seminars, participation in research presentations, and writing- or researchimprovement seminars.

THE CURRICULUM PLAN

The MS-CYSEC is a professional degree program. Students may begin studies with a wide variety of academic and work backgrounds.

Courses are presented in three general categories: • Cyber Essentials Courses: 12 credits of required coursework. • Information Assurance Courses: 12 credits of required coursework. • Cyber Electives: 3 credits required of upper-division coursework.

The student must complete 30 credits of graduate course work. Students must maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 for the duration of their master’s degree program. A total of ten graduate level courses (500-level or higher), exclusive of foundations-series courses are required. Students seeking placement for required coursework may be granted placement for certification, significant work experience on review of the program director.

COURSE OF STUDY

Information Assurance and Cybersecurity is a dynamic and fastgrowing field at the interface of hardware and software. The emergence of massive cyber-attacks on every area and size business. The MS-ISA program prepares students to understand major practice areas in Information Assurance and Cybersecurity. The program’s comprehensive curriculum will provide you with a solid scientific and technical foundation for pursuing either doctoral work or advanced positions in business, industry and government. In addition to the overall program outcomes, at the conclusion of the program of study, the Cyber-option graduate will be able to:

This program in Information Assurance and Cybersecurity is broken into three components: Cybersecurity Essentials a 12-credit certificate program that can be completed in one year. It is a shorter commitment for working professionals who want to expand their careers into cybersecurity. This certificate prepares the participants for three industry professional certifications; CompTIA Networking +, CompTIA Security +, and Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC).

This coursework lays the foundations for: Information Systems Security is a 12-credit certificate program that can be completed in one year. Based on the Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE) Designation Requirements. This certificate builds additional cyber competencies, preparing participants for the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.

Information Assurance Capstone a 6-credit ‘cap off’ to the IAS program that can be completed in one year or less. It consists of an advanced elective in Information Assurance and a directed graduate technical or research project.

CURRICULUM REQUIREMENTS

Cybersecurity Essentials (12 credits): Four courses:

GCYSEC 501 Networking Fundamentals GCYSEC 502 Cybersecurity Foundations GCYSEC 503 Security Leadership GCYSEC 504 Cybersecurity Management

Information Assurance (12 credits): Four courses:

GCYSEC 605 Asset Security and Risk Management GCYSEC 606 Information Security Architectures GCYSEC 607 Security Assessment and Access Control GCYSEC 608 Operations & Software Development Security

Cybersecurity Elective (3 credits): Select one of two courses:

GCYSEC 609 Digital Forensics GCYSEC 610 Network Management and Security Implementation

Directed Project or Directed Research (3 credits): One of:

GCYSEC 698 Directed Project or GCYSEC 699 Directed Research

DEPARTMENT POLICIES

Incomplete Grades in IAC coursework

Incomplete (“I”) grades for a course within the CIS Department require students to follow extra procedures in order for the “I” grade to be appropriately handled. • Students must obtain confirmation from the course instructor to be assigned the “I” grade.

• The course instructor and student complete and sign an

“Incomplete Grades” form before issuing the “I” grade. The form identifies required deliverables, expected delivery dates, and consequences for not following through on the work. • The course instructor and student complete and sign a

“Behavioral Contract”. The contract stipulates other activities and arrangements expected of the student in order to earn a grade in the course. • The course instructor submits both forms to the department and to Graduate Records. • If the “I” grade is assigned for either GCYBER 698 Directed

Research or GCYBER 699 Directed Research, then the student is also required to register for GCIS 697 (1 cr.) Directed Project in the semester when the incomplete work is being done.

Registering for GCIS 697 Directed Project is to occur regardless of the other courses registered in the semester.

Research and Technical Projects

All qualifying research and/or technical projects must be successfully proposed to the department faculty and have a review committee assigned prior to course registration. Standards for project scope and proposal methods are managed by the department chair. Externallysponsored projects are encouraged, but not required. All projects must have a computing faculty member in charge of the work, with a supporting committee of two department faculty and optionally one external committee member. The committee is assigned by the chair prior to registration. The committee is responsible for: • Supporting the student in completing their work • Approving changes to the defined work scope, • Judging the quality of the project work through the written and oral presentations of the work. • Grading of these courses is by the committee as a whole.

Students are responsible to identify the project, stakeholders and/ or topics, and complete the project on their own. Students are encouraged to identify and start work on their projects, especially requirements and exploratory research prior to proposing their projects. Students should register for their project or thesis credits in the semester that they expect to complete the project, not necessarily in the semester they start the project. Please refer questions to the program director or chair.

C-Grade Policy

Gannon graduate students are required to earn a grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better in order to successfully complete the graduate program. IAC graduate students are expected to maintain a semester GPA of 3.0 or better. Because of IAC scheduling patterns, the necessity of retaking a course to improve one’s GPA may cause the duration of one’s graduate studies to extend one year or more.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

GCYSEC 501 Networking Fundamental

3 credits Prerequisite: None Topics include networking models and media, architectures, topologies, devices, protocols, use of tools, processes, threads, memory, file systems, virtualization, access control, domain separation, process isolation, resource encapsulation, and least privilege.

GCYSEC 502 Cybersecurity Foundations

3 credits Prerequisite: GCYSEC 501 or equivalent Topics include Malware, vulnerability scanning, and penetration testing; Network components, frameworks, and secure network architectures; Identity and access management control; Policies, plans, and procedures; and cryptographic concepts.

GCYSEC 503 Security Leadership

3 credits Prerequisite: GCYSEC 501 or equivalent Topics include cryptographic applications; incident response and business continuity; and managing security operations center, application security, negotiations and vendors, projects, and security architecture.

GCYSEC 504 Cybersecurity Management

3 credits Prerequisite: GCYSEC 501 or equivalent Topics include managing security awareness & policy, system security and program structure; network monitoring, security and privacy; network concepts; risk management and security frameworks; and vulnerability management.

GCYSEC 605 Asset Security and Risk Management

3 credits Prerequisite: GCYSEC 501 or equivalent This course focuses on access control, information security governance and risk management, cryptography, security architecture and design, software security, business continuity, and disaster recovery planning, network security, physical security, operations security, laws, regulations, investigations, and compliance.