USC Viterbi Offers New Master's Program in Cyber Security

LOS ANGELES, May 21, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Beginning this fall, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering will offer a Master's program in Cyber Security committed to leveraging advanced technology and educational methods to tackle the most pressing challenges in the digital domain. The program will also be available via the Viterbi School's innovative online delivery method, DEN@Viterbi.

"This is an important new program to prepare students to address one of the grand engineering challenges of the coming decades," said John O'Brien, Executive Vice Dean for Engineering at USC Viterbi.

The Cyber Security degree focuses on the fundamentals of developing, engineering, and operating secure information systems. The goal of the program is to provide students the necessary tools to administer environments which require high levels of information security. Students will take courses in secure operating systems and applications, secure networking, digital forensics, cryptography, and key management. In addition, the curriculum is designed to give students an understanding of the security policy development.

"The launch of the Master of Cyber Security program is very timely, as there is a rapidly growing demand for professionals in this area," said Herb Schorr, Vice Dean for Engineering and Director Emeritus of USC Viterbi's Information Sciences Institute. "Graduates of this program will have the ability to apply their knowledge in a variety of industry sectors, including defense, finance, oil and gas, entertainment, medicine, and any other business which has information they value located in the digital world."

According to a recent report by The National Institute of Standards and Technology, it is projected that by 2015, the United States will need 700,000 new cyber security professionals. In addition, the publication Network World called cyber security the hottest job in information technology.

"The USC Viterbi School of Engineering is in a strong position to offer this program, as USC is a National Security Agency (NSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Center of Academic Excellence in Research," said Schorr. "Through interaction with public and private stakeholders, we believe we have developed a curriculum that will prepare students to compete for high-paying jobs with anyone in the nation, and to contribute to the field immediately after graduation."

Students who do not live in the Los Angeles area will also have the opportunity to take the same courses in cyber security via online delivery. DEN@Viterbi, ranked the #1 online engineering delivery program by U.S. News & World Report, delivers campus courses via webcast, utilizing the latest technology to provide students a seamless experience.

"Offering the Master in Cyber Security via DEN@Viterbi enables working professionals in all regions of the U.S. to take courses in the Cyber Security program," said Kelly Goulis, Senior Associate Dean of Graduate & Professional Programs at USC Viterbi. "We are proud to provide this opportunity for the nation's future cyber security experts to advance their education in this much-needed field."

For more information about this program and others, please visit the USC Viterbi Office of Graduate & Professional Programs at http://gapp.usc.edu/.

About the USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Engineering Studies began at the University of Southern California in 1905. Nearly a century later, the Viterbi School of Engineering received a naming gift in 2004 from alumnus Andrew J. Viterbi, inventor of the Viterbi algorithm now key to cell phone technology and numerous data applications. Consistently ranked among the top graduate programs in the world, the school enrolls more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students, taught by 177 tenured and tenure-track faculty, with 60 endowed chairs and professorships. http://viterbi.usc.edu

About the Viterbi School & DEN@Viterbi
The Viterbi Distance Education Network (DEN@Viterbi), one of the first of its kind, was created in 1972 to address the continuing education needs of Southern California's aerospace industry. After four decades of growth and investment, Viterbi currently offers more than 40 online engineering graduate programs and professional courses from custom studio classrooms on the USC campus. The USC Viterbi School of Engineering earned the #1 top honor in the 2013 U.S. News and World Report rankings, for both its Online Graduate Engineering Programs and its Online Computer Information Technology Programs, recognizing excellence in peer reputation, student engagement, faculty credentials and training, student services and technology, and admissions selectivity. viterbi.usc.edu/den

SOURCE USC Viterbi School of Engineering