Core Courses

The core curriculum creates a baseline of knowledge for students to operate within the world of cybersecurity. Core classes balance the needs of security engineers to apply secure development concepts coupled with theoretical computer science; all within a framework of ethical best practices.

In addition to the cybersecurity core courses, all students must take a one credit faculty seminar, and a writing assessment exam in their first quarter of enrollment. The Writing Assessment results will place students into (or out of) the technical writing skills courses (0-3 credits). All students must take these core courses to fulfill the breadth of knowledge requirements.

Cybersecurity Core Knowledge

Learning Outcomes

  • Design, assess, build, and maintain secure systems and software
  • Understand ethical issues surrounding cybersecurity, and design and deploy solutions in an ethically sound manner
  • Identify, model, prioritize, and defend against threats to systems
  • Conduct a risk assessment for an information asset or system, and develop and characterize appropriate strategies for addressing residual risk
  • Design and implement the security practices of an organization that are informed by the understanding and interpretation of key laws, regulations, standards, and best practices
  • Evaluate the role of cybersecurity policies, procedures, standards, and guidelines within an organizational context, and design and implement one or more such solutions

Faculty Research Seminar

All students must take a one-credit CSS 599: Faculty Research Seminar. The seminar gives students the opportunity to interact and learn about current research conducted by the CSS faculty. It is recommended students take this course in their first quarter, so that they are made familiar with current research early in their academic career. The course is 1 credit, and the class typically meets one hour per week.

CSS 599: Faculty Research Seminar (1)

Graduate-level Technical & Scientific Writing

Graduate-level competency on technical and scientific writing is a critical area of knowledge for students in any master’s degree.

A forthcoming process to evaluate students’ knowledge of the skills covered in CSSKL 511: Technical Writing (1 cr) will allow students to waive this course if proficiency is determined. Students who do not demonstrate this proficiency via past coursework will be required to take the course. All students will be required to take CSSSKL 594: Scientific Writing for Thesis/Project (2 cr), and there is no waiver available for this course.

  • CSSSKL 511: Technical Writing (1 cr): Students are advised to take CSSSKL 511 when enrolled in the Winter or Spring quarter of their first year in the program.
  • CSSKL 594: Scientific Writing for Thesis/Project (2 cr): Students are advised to take CSSKL 594 in their final quarter of study, when the writing of the final thesis or capstone report is taking place, or when advised by your capstone chair otherwise. Course goals include helping students draft and edit thesis or capstone reports. Cybersecurity students not completing a final thesis or capstone project will need to take this course when taking the Culminating Course or Culminating Internship which will fulfill their Culminating Experience requirement.

*The above information regarding CSSSKL 511 and 594 applies to students who began their program in Autumn 2025 or after. For students who began before this date, CSSSKL 511 and 594 are either required or waived based on your results from the Writing Skills Assessment that you completed at the start of your program.