Department of Computer Science

Computer Science Master of Engineering in Cybersecurity

Computer Science

Master of Engineering in Cybersecurity

Network and system security has become very critical and ever-increasing urgent in today's network and information systems. Cybersecurity deals with operations that protect and defend information and information systems by ensuring their availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and nonrepudiation.

The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security have designated the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE/CDE). This designation covers academic years 2014 through 2021. More information about our IA programs and activities can be accessed at the Center of Information Assurance and Security Technology (CIAST) at UCCS.

The NSA (National Security Agency) Information Assurance Courseware Evaluation (IACE) Program has validated that University of Colorado at Colorado Springs courseware meets all of the elements of the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) National Training Standards for:

  • Information Systems Security (INFOSEC) Professionals, NSTISSI No. 4011
  • System Administrators (SA), CNSSI No. 4013 Entry Level
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 IACE Certification Related Courses:

  • CS3910 - System Administration and Security
  • CS4200-5200 - Computer Architecture
  • CS5220 - Computer Communications
  • CS5910 - Fundamentals of Computer/Network Security
  • CS5920 - Applied Cryptography
  • CS5020 - Software Security
  • CS6910 - Advanced System Security Design
  • CS6930 - Advanced Topics in Web Security and Privacy
Objectives & Outcomes

Objectives:

  • Graduates of the MECS program become experts in methods, techniques, and tools used in Information Assurance..
  • Graduates of the MECS program serve as chief security officers for organizations.
  • Graduates of the MECS program practice lifelong learning and keep themselves up to date with emerging Security Engineering knowledge.
  • Graduates of the MECS program contribute to Cyber Security Journals and Conferences.

Outcomes:

  • Students should know the proven principles/techniques/tools, current standards, and best practices of Cybersecurity.
  • Students can perform independent research in the area of Cybersecurity.
  • Students can build a secure networked system and setup/enforce security policies.
  • Students can perform risk analysis and penetration testing of a networked system.
  • Students has developed effective communication skills and professionalism.
Admission Requirements
  1. A Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics, computer science, engineering information systems, or equivalent.
  2. An overall undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 (on a scale of 4.0; awarded within the past five years) or minimum 148 GRE (required for students with a GPA below 3.0), quantitative portion. Applicants with a grade point average of less than 3.0 or with degrees awarded more than five years ago will be admitted on a case by case basis. Applicants with a grade point average between 2.75 and 3.0 awarded within the past five years may be admitted provisionally. International applicants must follow the international applicant admission requirements located on the 'How to Apply' page.
  3. It is recommended the applicant have two years experience with commercial, industrial or government software development or system/network administration.
  4. A completed online application including a concise statement of experience, career goals and resume.
  5. Three letters of recommendation.
  6. Applicants with any foreign post-secondary course work should also submit a course-by-course evaluation by a NACES member.
  7. Other items as required.
  8. International Applicants:
  • International students applying for the program should have all application materials into the Admissions Office at UCCS by March 1st for Fall Semester and by October 1st for Spring Semester. Applications received later than these dates or incomplete by these dates may be considered for the following semester. It is the student's responsibility to follow up to make sure all materials are received on time. 
  • GRE Score of 148 or higher is required.
  • TOEFL or ILETS of 6.5 or higher is required for English Proficiency.  A Duolingo exam with a minimum score of 115 may be used for the English Proficiency.  If a student has completed a degree in the US, this requirement may be waived.  
  • Course by Course Evaluation: Upon the successful completion of your online application, you will receive a private link to upload each foreign post-secondary transcript from institutions you have attended. These transcripts must include all courses and grades, must be issued in the original language, and be accompanied by certified English translations when applicable. This service is provided at no cost for UCCS applicants. More details will be communicated to you via email after we received your completed application. Please make sure to check your email for the uploading instructions.

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Program Prerequisites

  • Knowledge of a modern programming language, e.g., Pascal, Java, or C++
  • CS 1450 Data Structures and Algorithms
  • CS 2080 Programming with Unix
  • CS 2160 Computer Organization and Assembly Language Programming

Streamlined Application Process

A Streamlined Application is designed to offer outstanding UCCS students who have completed a BSCS/BICS/BI Security or BI GDD degrees and alumni an expedited application to the graduate school in participating programs.

  • If you are interested in applying, please fill out the regular application. Once you select that you have previously attended UCCS, it will ask you if you will be submitting the streamlined application.  The GRE and English Proficiency requirements are waived for Streamlined Applicants.

  • Submit the application, a $60 non-refundable application fee

  • Minimum GPA of 3.0

  • Must be about to graduate or graduated in the last 1 year

  • Letter of Recommendation from the Chair

Application Deadlines:

Domestic Students:        Fall Start - April 1st     Spring Start - November 1st

International Students:  Fall Start - March 1st   Spring Start - October 1st

Our application deadline is April 1st.  For scholarship consideration we encourage you to apply by March 1st. If  you are an international student who will need a visa, we recommend you complete the application process by March 1st to give enough time for application review and visa processing.

Program Information

Click here for Program Guidelines

The Cybersecurity curriculum includes courses designed to prepare individuals, who engineer computer/network systems or develop policy for these systems, with knowledge of methods, techniques, and tools used in Cybersecurity. Courses at the graduate level are regularly offered in the late afternoon or evening to provide graduate study opportunities to working professionals.

Required Courses: 30 Hours

  • CS 5200 Computer Architecture
  • CS 5220 Computer Communication
  • CS 5500 Operating Systems 
  • CS 5910 Fundamentals of Computer/Network Security
  • CS 5920 Applied Cryptography for Secure Communications
  • Thesis Choice: Complete CS 7000 Master Thesis (6 credit hours) and 3 elective courses from the approved list of courses provided below. The student's Graduate Committee must approve the courses selected.

For application information:  How To Apply

For more information please contact the Computer Science Department.

Procedures & Requirements for Graduation

An overall 3.0 grade point average in all graduate work is required. An advisor should be appointed during the first semester of graduate work, and all work applied to the degree must be accomplished within a six year time limit.

Up to 9 credit hours of relevant graduate work may be transferred from an accredited graduate program at another institution or taken as a non-degree seeking student at UCCS, provided the course work has not been used for any other degree, the grade earned for the course(s) is B or better, the course work has been taken within past six years, the course coverage is equal in level, content, and depth to the course for which it is being substituted, and all courses included to count for this degree must be part of an approved plan of study. This plan must be developed by the student and approved by his/her advisor prior to completing 12 credit hours of course work.

For more information please contact the Computer Science Department.

Research Lab

UCCS has secured a 1.25 Million AFOSR equipment grant to furnish a data center quality server room with three racks of blade servers and storage area networks and an innovation security lab to foster development of educational and research programs in Cyber Security, Physical Security, and Homeland Security. They are located in the new 150,000 square foot Osborne Center for Science and Engineering building completed April 2009. The innovation security server room will host three racks of blade servers with storage area network and 40 tera bytes of storage. It will be used for

  • the design and development of new secure network systems and protocols,
  • the simulation or emulation of large scale networks for evaluating cyber attack and defense techniques,
  • the configuration of networked of virtual machines/infrastructures for conducting capture the flag exercises and IA training workshops.
  • the study of disaster recovery and network system restoration,
  • performing multi-tier server cluster, QoS, Internet network research,
  • conducting biometric and physical security research.

Equipment/Software Systems

a. Blade Server Racks and Server Module
    HP C7000/C3000x2 chasis
    12 HP Blade 460C G6 Server Modules including 2 Intel Xeon E5530 (2.66GHz)
    Quad Core processors with 32 GB Memory
b. Storage Area Networks and 40 Tera Byte Storage

    HP EVA Storage & Lefthand SAN with 40 Tera byte storage per system
c. System Software for managing the virtual machines on blade servers

    VMWare Infrastructure with Lab Management software Lab Manager

    VMWare Infrastructure for 12 CPUs and 4 year support contract
d. Cyber Security Software Tools

    Nessus Annual Direct and Professional Feed

    IDA Pro Advanced Decompiler (1 Computer License)
    Hex-Rays Disassembler $2300
e. Network Router/Switch/Security Equipment
    Cisco router/switch/IDS/Firewalll

 

The 620 square foot innovation security lab will be equipped with high end work station, tablet/laptop PCs, and wireless/sensor network equipment and development kits. It has Audio/Video connection to the innovation lab, the large conference room and the teleconference room of the National Institute of Science, Space, and Security Centers (NISSSC) with high speed internet connection for conducting cyber or homeland security exercises.

Justification for Server Rack and Server Modules
We need three server racks for disaster recovery, system restoration/survivability, multi-tier server cluster, Internet network research. It allows us to emulate how to reroute system traffic to the backup site, when one site fails, and to restore the original systems. It also allows us to investigate the design efficient secure storage network and secure collective network defense to allow network systems to function even when it is under attack. Each rack contains 4 high end X6250 blade server module each has dual quad core Xeon processor with 32 Giga byte main memory. Each of these high end blade server modules allows us to run concurrent processes for demanding security related processing, or to run multiple networked virtual machines for cyber war exercises and different security research projects that require different system and application software configurations.

Justification for Storage Area Network
The storage area network with the provide Tera byte storage enables us to save large amounts of data expected to be generated by the proposed cyber security and homeland security research projects. The equipment also allows for virtual machines to access their file system images, and to access the existing cyber security knowledge base.

Justification for System software for managing the virtual machines on blade servers
To manage the large collections of virtual machines and servers for different security projects and to ensure the network configurations are properly configured, we need VMWare Infrastructure with Lab Management software and related support.

Justification for cyber security software tool
We need this collection of security software tools to analyze the vulnerabilities in software server system.

Justification for the research equipment in the Innovation Security lab
The Cisco router/switch connects the blade server system, the PCs in the innovation lab and the campus network backbone. IDS and Firewall are needed to isolate and protect the networks. The workstations, desktops, laptops, all-in-one office machines, and wireless/sensor network equipment will be used by the researchers and students participating in security research and cyber war exercises.

 

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