News and Information
GVSU to Add Cybersecurity Concentration to Masters Program
February 28, 2017
Grand Valley has officially announced the addition of a concentration in cybersecurity to the computer information systems master’s degree program. They also intend to increase cybersecurity courses for undergraduates in related disciplines beginning this fall.
At the master’s level, the concentration will include one required course in information systems principles and four more courses the students will select as part of their master’s program, including software engineering, privacy, systems security and digital forensics and investigations.
A new lab, The Network and Security Lab, in Mackinac Hall on the Allendale campus, will provide hands-on data security experience and will allow students to simulate fake cyber attacks and learn how to defend against them. The lab will be equipped with wired, wireless, data-based and Bluetooth technology, as well as a chamber called a “faraday cage,” which blocks electronic signals from leaving or entering the space, so students can safely test data security systems.
A group of professors helped design and organize the lab: Mostafa El-Said, associate professor and chair of information systems; Vijay Bhuse, assistant professor of computing and information systems; and Andrew Kalafut, associate professor of computing and information systems.
Paul Leidig, director of the School of Computing and Information Systems, stated that a focus on data security is needed now more than ever.
To read more on this new addition to Grand Valley, take a look at the article from the Grand Rapids Business Journal.