Information and Network Security

Required Core Courses

Students must complete the two following courses with a grade of B- or better:

• INFSCI 2150 - INFORMATION SECURITY AND PRIVACY
• TELCOM 2821 - NETWORK SECURITY

Elective Courses

Students must complete three elective courses with a grade of C or better. A list of recommended elective courses is provided below. With advisor approval, students may choose an alternate elective.

• INFSCI 2170 - CRYPTOGRAPHY
• INFSCI 2230 - CYBERCRIME
• INFSCI 2620 - DEVELOPING SECURE SYSTEMS
• INFSCI 2621 - SECURITY MANAGEMENT AND COMPUTER FORENSICS
• INFSCI 2625 - CYBERSECURITY AND PRIVACY REGULATION
• INFSCI 2731 - SECURITY IN E-COMMERCE
• INFSCI 2955 - SPECIAL TOPICS: SYSTEMS
• TELCOM 2120 - NETWORK PERFORMANCE
• TELCOM 2813 - SECURITY MANAGEMENT AND COMPUTER FORENSICS
• TELCOM 2820 - CRYPTOGRAPHY
• TELCOM 2825 - INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION

Admissions Requirements

The following are requirements and prerequisites for admission to the certificate program.

All applicants must submit:

• Official transcript
• Two letters of recommendation that attest to the applicant’s aptitude and motivation to pursue studies at a level beyond the bachelor’s or master’s degree
• Personal statement
• Resume

Applicants must have successfully completed at least one three-credit college course with a grade of B or better in each of the following:

• Structured programming language. A course on structured programming using Java, C# or C++ is required. Either  INFSCI 0017 - FUNDAMENTALS OF OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING  or  CS 0401 - INTERMEDIATE PROGRAMMING USING JAVA  is recommended to meet this requirement.
• Statistics. A course covering data collection, descriptive and inferential statistics is optimal. It should cover measures of central tendency and variability, regression, correlation, non-parametric analysis, probability and sampling, Bayesian analysis, significance tests, and hypothesis testing. Either  STAT 0200 - BASIC APPLIED STATISTICS  or  STAT 1000 - APPLIED STATISTICAL METHODS  is recommended to meet this requirement.
• Mathematics. A college-level mathematics course, in discrete mathematics or calculus, is required. Any of the following Pitt courses are recommended to meet the requirement:  MATH 0120 - BUSINESS CALCULUS ,  MATH 0220 - ANALYTIC GEOMETRY AND CALCULUS 1 , or  MATH 0400 - FINITE MATHEMATICS .

15-Credit Post-Bachelor’s Certificates

A BS/BE degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Computer or Electrical Engineering, Mathematics or a related field with a scholastic average of a B (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) or better.

15-Credit Post-Master’s Certificates

An MS degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Science, Telecommunications, Computer or Electrical Engineering, Mathematics or a related field with a scholastic average of a B (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) or better.