Security Awareness Programs & Computer-Based Training

Johns Hopkins Introduces Part-Time MS in Information Assurance

This MS degree program is an effort toward filling the surging demand for cyber engineers and scientists with technical expertise in information assurance (IA) within government and other sectors.

"This program provides students with the technical foundation, applied knowledge and required information security skills to assess the risk of threats to our information infrastructure, ability to protect against these threats and critical ways to approach new systems and technologies," says Tom Longstaff, vice chair of the IA program and a senior IA scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

The10-course degree program is created to serve the needs of working professionals who want to advance their current career as well as to help transition professionals from other fields. The information assurance degree is designed for those with undergraduate degrees in technical areas such as electrical engineering, computer science or mathematics. For students transitioning to information assurance from other undergraduate degrees and professions, the program offers undergraduate prerequisite courses to be taken as needed.

One of few part-time masters' programs of its kind, the information assurance degree is intended "to provide hands-on and deep fundamental knowledge of information assurance to students who can hit the ground running from day one," says Longstaff. These courses will be taught by veteran faculty members that are current practitioners in their field.

Courses are offered in two concentration areas: networks and systems. The networks area focuses on protecting information assets from network-based intrusions and remote exploitation of systems. The systems area explores attacks from within the systems boundary, emphasizing platform, operating systems, and secure software development. Ten approved courses, which may be interwoven from both concentration areas, are required for the degree. Students have up to five years to complete the program.

This program is a hybrid mix of online courses and classroom instruction. Classes are conducted on weekday evenings and Saturdays. Students may begin the program in the spring or summer semesters. For more information on the degree program, go to http://ep.jhu.edu/graduate-degree-programs/information-assurance.