Cyber Operations (MS)

This course explores digital forensic methodologies, legal considerations, and investigative techniques used in modern forensic analysis. Students will develop the expertise to analyze forensic images, identify suspicious or concealed files¿including those hidden through steganography and data obfuscation¿and implement advanced strategies for evidence recovery across diverse digital environments, including Windows, macOS, smartphones, memory, and network systems. Emphasizing the use of cutting-edge forensic tools and bootable utilities, students will learn to extract and preserve digital evidence while maintaining data integrity. The course also examines contemporary methods used for hiding, encrypting, and scrambling data, equipping students with the skills to develop effective countermeasures in forensic investigations. Additionally, students will gain proficiency in preparing legally admissible documentation, maintaining a proper chain of custody, and drafting forensic reports that…

Full course description for Digital Forensics I

This course provides an in-depth examination of forensic techniques for investigating digital evidence across modern operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and macOS. Students will develop expertise in analyzing file systems to identify critical forensic artifacts and data structures essential to investigations. The course covers advanced memory forensics techniques to extract and interpret volatile data, including active processes and encryption keys. Students will also conduct network forensic investigations, utilizing packet analysis and decryption techniques to uncover hidden or encrypted malicious communications. Emphasizing correlation and interpretation of forensic evidence from multiple sources, students will integrate log analysis, system artifacts, and event timelines to reconstruct digital incidents. Hands-on experience with state-of-the-art forensic tools will enable students to perform forensic acquisitions of locally attached storage devices while ensuring data…

Full course description for Digital Forensics II

The increasing interconnectedness of digital systems and the rapid evolution of malicious software (malware) pose significant threats to individuals, businesses, and critical infrastructure. As cyber threats grow more sophisticated, the ability to analyze, dissect, and reverse-engineer malware is essential for threat intelligence, incident response, and cybersecurity defense. This course provides an in-depth exploration of malware analysis and reverse engineering methodologies, equipping students with the technical skills to investigate, understand, and mitigate malicious software. Students will analyze the characteristics, propagation methods, and impact of various types of malware, assessing their persistence mechanisms and interaction with host systems and networks. Using modern forensic tools, students will apply advanced static and dynamic analysis techniques to deobfuscate and reverse-engineer malware samples. The course also covers attacker techniques designed to evade…

Full course description for Malware Analysis and Reverse Engineering

The Cyber Operations Capstone Project is a culminating experience where students synthesize, apply, and critically evaluate cybersecurity concepts in a real-world context. Throughout the graduate program, students identify, formulate, and develop their capstone projects, producing a comprehensive, scholarly, and professional-level research project that reflects their advanced knowledge and technical expertise. This capstone follows a phased approach, where students solidify their project scope and research methodology in the initial phase and design, develop, and implement their solutions in the final phase. The project emphasizes evidence-based decision-making, integration of industry best practices, and rigorous academic research to address complex cybersecurity challenges. Students will critically analyze and synthesize relevant scholarly and professional literature, ensuring their work contributes meaningfully to the field of cyber operations. The capstone experience culminates in…

Full course description for Cyber Operations Capstone Project

Understanding vulnerability discovery and exploitation is fundamental to cyber operations, equipping professionals with the skills to identify, analyze, and mitigate security weaknesses across various computing environments. This course provides an in-depth exploration of vulnerability analysis, emphasizing the patterns of vulnerabilities and attack methodologies to help students develop a comprehensive security mindset. Students will analyze various types of vulnerabilities, assess their root causes and impact on security, and explore exploitation techniques and mitigation strategies. Key topics include buffer overflows, privilege escalation attacks, input validation flaws, fuzzing, crash dump analysis, exploit development, and security mitigations such as DEP and ASLR. The course also delves into security design principles, guiding students to integrate proactive security measures into system architecture, software development, and risk mitigation frameworks. Through hands-on…

Full course description for Vulnerability Discovery and Exploitation

Cryptography is a cornerstone of modern cybersecurity, protecting data across wireless networks, cloud computing, and next-generation applications. This course provides an in-depth exploration of advanced cryptographic techniques, focusing on their practical implementation in securing real-world systems. Students will analyze cryptographic security mechanisms in SSL/TLS, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), military applications, cryptanalysis, and cryptographic backdoors. Emphasis is placed on evaluating cryptographic frameworks in vehicular ad hoc networks, smart grids, e-health systems, and mobile social networks. Students will also design and implement encryption-based defense strategies to enhance data confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. Additionally, the course examines the threat posed by quantum computing to modern cryptographic systems and explores post-quantum cryptography solutions. By the end of the course, students will have the expertise to apply, evaluate, and…

Full course description for Applied Cryptography

In an era of sophisticated cyber threats, organizations rely on proactive threat intelligence and hunting strategies to defend against advanced network intrusions and data breaches. This course equips students with the knowledge and practical skills to collect, analyze, and apply Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) at tactical, operational, and strategic levels to enhance cyber threat-hunting operations and defensive cybersecurity mechanisms. Students will evaluate cyber threat intelligence frameworks, including MITRE ATT&CK, to identify adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and detect advanced cyber threats. The course covers correlating Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) from multiple intelligence sources, including Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT), to strengthen proactive threat detection and response. Emphasis is placed on implementing intelligence-sharing frameworks and protocols to facilitate active cyber defense through threat-hunting and coordinated threat mitigation…

Full course description for Cyber Threat Hunting and Intelligence

This course provides a comprehensive examination of virtualization architectures and cloud security, with a focus on enterprise and cloud environments. Students will analyze the security implications of hypervisors, virtual machines (VMs), networking, storage, and management interfaces, gaining an in-depth understanding of the risks and challenges associated with virtualized infrastructures. The course also explores cloud service models¿including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS)¿as well as deployment strategies, evaluating security trade-offs and risk management considerations for diverse workloads. Students will gain hands-on experience in securing cloud-based workloads in environments such as AWS and Microsoft Azure, addressing deployment, configuration, scalability, and security challenges. Emphasizing compliance and governance, students will assess and apply industry security standards, audit policies, and…

Full course description for Virtualization and Cloud Security

As wireless and mobile technologies continue to evolve, they play an increasingly critical role in global communications, cybersecurity, and cyber operations. This course provides an in-depth exploration of cellular and wireless network architectures, emphasizing their security features, vulnerabilities, and risk mitigation strategies. Students will analyze the core architectures and security mechanisms of various generations of cellular networks, assessing operational differences and security challenges unique to wireless environments. The course covers modern encryption standards, authentication protocols, and access control policies, equipping students with the skills to design and implement secure wireless networks. Additionally, students will assess security protocols used in wireless communications to ensure authentication, data integrity, and confidentiality. Through hands-on exercises, students will investigate and mitigate threats to wireless and mobile networks, identifying…

Full course description for Securing Wireless and Mobile Technologies

This course provides a comprehensive exploration of Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, which serve as the backbone of critical infrastructure across manufacturing, energy, transportation, and utility sectors. Students will develop an in-depth understanding of ICS/SCADA architectures, their operational environments, and the evolving cybersecurity threats targeting these systems. The course examines the vulnerabilities inherent in industrial automation, the complexities of embedded systems, and the security frameworks designed to mitigate attacks. Through hands-on exercises, case studies, and industry-standard tools, students will gain practical experience in securing and assessing ICS environments.

Full course description for Industrial Control Systems Security and Resilience

The Cyber Operations Capstone Project is a culminating experience where students synthesize, apply, and critically evaluate cybersecurity concepts in a real-world context. Throughout the graduate program, students identify, formulate, and develop their capstone projects, producing a comprehensive, scholarly, and professional-level research project that reflects their advanced knowledge and technical expertise. This capstone follows a phased approach, where students solidify their project scope and research methodology in the initial phase and design, develop, and implement their solutions in the final phase. The project emphasizes evidence-based decision-making, integration of industry best practices, and rigorous academic research to address complex cybersecurity challenges. Students will critically analyze and synthesize relevant scholarly and professional literature, ensuring their work contributes meaningfully to the field of cyber operations. The capstone experience culminates in…

Full course description for Cyber Operations Capstone Project

Any IT development project contains significant risks. However, keeping the status quo is also risky in rapidly changing technological and competitive environments. This course is designed to familiarize the student with risk analysis concepts derived from many sources including financial, actuarial and statistical studies, insurance and risk analysis, software quality assurance methodologies, management and audit trails and many others. Student will learn to assess the risk in an information systems portfolio and develop strategies for managing the many risk types discussed: Prerequisites: MIS 600.

Full course description for Risk Analysis in Information Technology

With Information Technology playing an ever greater role in organizations, and the widespread availability of technology with the ability to collect and create information on everyone, many new ethical issues have been created. This course will frame many current ethic issues in IT and help the student develop methods of analyzing and dealing with these issues in real world situations. Topics may include issues such as privacy, copyright and intellectual property, employee monitoring approaches, multinational information flows, corporate intelligence and others. Hacking, computer security, viruses and other acts of destruction will be reviewed from an ethical perspective.

Full course description for Cyber Ethics