Department website: http://www.lcsee.statler.wvu.edu
Nature of Program
Students will be able to recognize the relevant issues in cybersecurity and have knowledge in the areas: data security, software security, system security, human security, organizational security and societal security. Students will be able to apply the ethical aspects and cyber laws in each cybersecurity area.
Program Educational Objectives
The objective of the bachelor’s degree program in Cybersecurity (CYBE) at West Virginia University is to produce graduates who have the attitudes that will ensure success in professional positions in business, industry, research, governmental service, or graduate study or professional school.
Student Outcomes
Upon graduation, all students obtaining a major in cybersecurity will be able to:
- Identify a range of current problems and threats in cybersecurity.
- Detect and analyze cybersecurity attack and practice defense strategies against them.
- Write secure software.
- Analyze networks and network security.
- Plan, implement, and assess security protection mechanisms in computer systems and networks.
Curriculum in Cybersecurity
General Education Foundations
Please use this link to view a list of courses that meet each GEF requirement.
NOTE: Some major requirements will fulfill specific GEF requirements. Please see the curriculum requirements listed below for details on which GEFs you will need to select.
| General Education Foundations | ||
| F1 - Composition & Rhetoric | 3-6 | |
| Introduction to Composition and Rhetoric and Composition, Rhetoric, and Research | ||
or ENGL 103 | Accelerated Academic Writing | |
| F2A/F2B - Science & Technology | 4-6 | |
| F3 - Math & Quantitative Skills | 3-4 | |
| F4 - Society & Connections | 3 | |
| F5 - Human Inquiry & the Past | 3 | |
| F6 - The Arts & Creativity | 3 | |
| F7 - Global Studies & Diversity | 3 | |
| F8 - Focus (may be satisfied by completion of a minor, double major, or dual degree) | 9 | |
| Total Hours | 31-37 | |
Please note that not all of the GEF courses are offered at all campuses. Students should consult with their advisor or academic department regarding the GEF course offerings available at their campus.
To receive a degree of bachelor of science with a major in cybersecurity, a student must meet the University’s undergraduate degree requirements, take all the courses indicated below, and attain a grade point average of 2.25 or better for all Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering courses, in all WVU courses, and overall. If a Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering course is repeated, only the last grade received is used to compute the major grade point average, and the course credit hours are counted only once. This requirement assures that the student has demonstrated overall competence in the major.
Curriculum Requirements
| All CYBE, CPE, CS, MATH, STAT, SOCA and MIST courses must be completed with a grade of C- or better. | ||
| Non-Cybersecurity Requirements | ||
| COMM 112 | Small Group Communication (GEF 4) | 3 |
| ENGR 101 | Engineering Problem Solving 1 | 2 |
| ENGR 191 | First-Year Seminar | 1 |
| Calculus I (GEF 3): | 4 | |
| Calculus 1 | ||
| Calculus 1a with Precalculus and Calculus 1b with Precalculus | ||
| MATH 156 | Calculus 2 (GEF 8) | 4 |
| STAT 215 | Introduction to Probability and Statistics | 3 |
| Lab Science I (GEF 2B) & II (GEF 8): Select one of the following 8-hr sequences | 8 | |
| Principles of Biology and Introductory Physiology | ||
| Fundamentals of Chemistry and Fundamentals of Chemistry | ||
| Principles of Chemistry and Principles of Chemistry | ||
| General Physics and General Physics | ||
| Planet Earth and Planet Earth Laboratory and Earth Through Time and Earth Through Time Laboratory | ||
| Environmental Geoscience and Environmental Geoscience Laboratory and Earth Through Time and Earth Through Time Laboratory | ||
| Lab Science III (GEF 8): Choose an additional 4-hr lab science from a second discipline | 4 | |
| Principles of Biology | ||
| Fundamentals of Chemistry | ||
| Principles of Chemistry | ||
| Planet Earth and Planet Earth Laboratory | ||
| Environmental Geoscience and Environmental Geoscience Laboratory | ||
| General Physics | ||
| Cybersecurity Requirements | ||
| CPE 271 & CPE 272 | Introduction to Digital Logic Design and Digital Logic Laboratory | 4 |
| CPE 310 & CPE 311 | Microprocessor Systems and Microprocessor Laboratory | 4 |
| CPE 435 | Computer Incident Response | 3 |
| CS 110 | Introduction to Computer Science | 4 |
| CS 111 | Introduction to Data Structures | 4 |
| CS 210 | File and Data Structures | 4 |
| CS 220 | Discrete Mathematics | 3 |
| CS 230 | Introduction to Software Engineering | 4 |
| CS 350 | Computer System Concepts | 3 |
| CS 450 | Operating Systems Structure | 3 |
| CS 453 | Data and Computer Communications | 3 |
| CS 465 | Cybersecurity Principles and Practice | 3 |
| CS 480 | Capstone Project - Design (Fulfills Writing and Communications Skills Requirement) | 2 |
| CS 481 | Capstone Project - Implementation | 3 |
| CYBE 266 | Foundations of Cybersecurity | 3 |
| CYBE 366 | Secure Software Development | 3 |
| CYBE 466 | Host Based Cyber Defense | 3 |
| CYBE 467 | Practicing Cybersecurity: Attacks & Countermeasures | 3 |
| MATH 373 | Introduction to Cryptography | 3 |
| MIST 357 | Information Ethics | 3 |
| SOCA 101 | Introduction to Sociology | 3 |
| SOCA 431 | Cybercrime | 3 |
| Technical Electives | 9 | |
Select three of the following: | ||
| Automata Theory | ||
| Advanced Software Engineering | ||
| Database Design and Theory | ||
| Introduction to Computer Graphics | ||
| Artificial Intelligence | ||
| Real-Time Systems Development | ||
| Computational Forensics | ||
| GEF Electives 1, 5, 6, 7 | 15 | |
| Total Hours | 124 | |
Suggested Plan of Study
| First Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| CS 110 | 4 | CS 111 | 4 |
| COMM 112 (GEF 4) | 3 | ENGL 101 (GEF 1) | 3 |
| ENGR 101 | 2 | MATH 156 (GEF 8) | 4 |
| ENGR 191 | 1 | Lab Science II (GEF 8) | 4 |
| MATH 155 (GEF 3) | 4 | ||
| Lab Science I (GEF 2) | 4 | ||
| 18 | 15 | ||
| Second Year | |||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| CPE 271 | 3 | CS 350 | 3 |
| CPE 272 | 1 | MATH 373 | 3 |
| CS 210 | 4 | SOCA 101 | 3 |
| CS 220 | 3 | STAT 215 | 3 |
| CYBE 266 | 3 | Lab Science III (GEF 8) | 4 |
| ENGL 102 (GEF 1) | 3 | ||
| 17 | 16 | ||
| Third Year | |||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| CPE 310 | 3 | MIST 357 | 3 |
| CPE 311 | 1 | CS 450 | 3 |
| CS 230 | 4 | CS 465 | 3 |
| CS 453 | 3 | CYBE 366 | 3 |
| SOCA 431 | 3 | GEF 6 | 3 |
| 14 | 15 | ||
| Fourth Year | |||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| CPE 435 | 3 | CYBE 467 | 3 |
| CS 480 | 2 | CS 481 | 3 |
| CYBE 466 | 3 | Technical Elective II | 3 |
| Technical Elective I | 3 | Technical Elective III | 3 |
| GEF 7 | 3 | GEF 5 | 3 |
| 14 | 15 | ||
| Total credit hours: 124 | |||
Program Educational Objectives
The objective of the bachelor’s degree program in Cybersecurity (CYBE) at West Virginia University is to produce graduates who have the attitudes that will ensure success in professional positions in business, industry, research, governmental service, or graduate study or professional school
Major Learning Outcomes
Cybersecurity
Students will be able to recognize the relevant issues in cybersecurity and have knowledge in the areas: data security, software security, system security, human security, organizational security and societal security. Students will be able to apply the ethical aspects and cyber laws in each cybersecurity area.
Upon graduation, all students obtaining a major in cybersecurity will be able to:
- Identify a range of current problems and threats in cybersecurity.
- Detect and analyze cybersecurity attack and practice defense strategies against them.
- Write secure software.
- Analyze networks and network security.
- Plan, implement, and assess security protection mechanisms in computer systems and networks.
cybersecurity Courses
CYBE 266. Foundations of Cybersecurity. 3 Hours.
PR: CS 111 with a minimum grade of C-. An overview of the foundational areas of cybersecurity: data, software, system, human, and organizational security.
CYBE 366. Secure Software Development. 3 Hours.
PR: CS 230 and CS 350 with a minimum grade of C- in each. Covers the design, implementation, and testing of secure software. The topics include the role of security in the software development lifecycle, designing secure software, best security programming practices, and verification and validation of software applications’ security.
CYBE 466. Host Based Cyber Defense. 3 Hours.
PR: CS 453 with a minimum grade of C-. An in depth study of the strategies available to defends hosts (clients, IoT devices, servers) against cyber attacks.
CYBE 467. Practicing Cybersecurity: Attacks & Countermeasures. 3 Hours.
PR: CS 350. Cybersecurity knowledge and practices on security risk management. Current security trends and industrial practices on cybersecurity. Experiments on ethical hacking and practice of cyber defense.
CYBE 480. Capstone Project - Design. 2 Hours.
PR: ENGL 102 or ENGL 103 and consent. Penultimate semester. Group senior design projects with individual design assignments appropriate to student's discipline. Complete system-level designs of the subsequent semester's project presented in written proposals and oral presentations. (Equivalent to BIOM 480, CPE 480, CS 480, and EE 480.) (2 hr. lec., 1 hr. conf.).
CYBE 481. Capstone Project - Implementation. 3 Hours.
PR: CYBE 480. Continuation of CYBE 480. Detailed design and implementation of the system including choice of components, algorithm development, interfacing, troubleshooting, working in groups, and project management. Also covers professional topics, including ethics, liability, safety, socio-legal issues, risks and employment agreements. (1 hr. lec., 1 hr. conf., 2 hr. lab.).