Curriculum

The MSISTM curriculum consists of three main components: the core courses, electives and the curriculum option/seminar. The core courses establish the necessary background and a common competence level, and the elective courses build upon the core. Students can choose from a wide variety of technical and management elective courses according to their interests and career needs.

Core Course Requirements	72 units
Restricted Electives	48 units
Curriculum Option / Research Seminar	39 units
TOTAL	159 units

NOTE: Students that choose the Computer Forensics and Incident Response Track do not add any additional units. The forensics track consists of 48 units, which will be fulfilled by one security elective (12 units) and the curriculum option (36 units).

Core Courses - 72 units

(Core courses may not be waived.)

Management Requirement - 12 units

All students must take:

• 14-786: Information Security Risk Analysis
  Prerequisite: Either prior coursework in probability theory or 95-796: Statistics for IT Managers
• 14-788: Information Security Risk Policy and Management
  Prerequisite: 95-710: Economic Analysis or equivalent coursework

Networking and Systems Requirement - 24 units

All students must take:

15-441: Computer Networks (Fall)	OR	14-740: Fundamentals of Telecommunications and Computer Networks (Fall) Note: This class has a limited enrollment	OR	18-756: Packet Switching and Computer Networks (Fall)
AND
15-410: Operating System Design and Implementation (Fall) Note: You must take 15-213: Introduction to Computer Systems as a prerequisite to 15-410		OR	18-842: Distributed Systems (Spring) Note: You must take either 18-342: Fundamentals of Embedded Systems or 15-410: Operating System Design and Implementation as a prerequisite to 18-842

Security Requirement - 36 units

All students must take:

18-730: Introduction to Computer Security (Fall)

AND

18-731: Network Security (Spring) OR 18-733: Applied Cryptography (Spring) OR 18-732: Secure Software Systems (Fall)

AND

One additional graduate-level security course, including courses from another department (CS, ECE, EPP, Heinz, Tepper) Note: Course must be approved by the MSISTM program advisor

Restricted Electives - 48 units

Restricted electives form the area of a student's specialization. Students have the opportunity to pursue a wide range of electives in which they have a special interest. This portion of the curriculum is composed of 48 units. Of the 48 units required units, 12 units must be a course in ECE or CS that is numbered 300 or above. The remaining 36 units can be fulfilled by any courses in Heinz College or the Tepper School or any courses in ECE, EPP, CS or the INI. All electives must be numbered 300 or above. 15-213: Introduction to Computer systems can also be counted as a restricted elective, but only if it is taken as a prerequisite to 15-410: Operating System Design and Implementation. Restricted electives may not be taken pass/fail.

Curriculum Option - 36 units

The curriculum option must be chosen before the end of the first spring semester. Students choose either a Professional Track or Research Track:

• Professional Track: Either 1) a set of courses that will equip students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in industry; 2) a supervised practicum that will provide students with industry experience while gaining significant knowledge; or 3) a development-based project that allows students to build up knowledge and skills in delivering successful solutions for industry.

• Research Track: A thesis-style research paper that will allow students to delve deep into a problem and create a solution for a research-based project, providing the opportunity to gain significant knowledge and skills in a particular area.

Research Seminar - 3 units

Research seminars require students to attend presentations that take place during the fall and spring semester. Speakers present on current issues in areas of industry and research. Students must take both:

• 14-704: INI Seminar (Fall)
• 14-705: INI Seminar (Spring)

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For Students in the Computer Forensics and Incident Response Track

Students wishing to complete the Computer Forensics and Incident Response Track must complete the following courses:

• 14-761: Applied Information Assurance (pre-requisite to all other track courses)
• 14-822: Host-Based Forensics
• 14-823: Network Forensics

In addition, students must complete two of the following three mini-courses:

• 14-824: Advanced Host-Based Forensic Analysis (6 units)
• 14-825: Advanced Network Analysis (6 units)
• 14-826: Event Reconstruction and Correlation (6 units)

Below is a sample progression of the track's curriculum:

• First fall: 14-761
• First spring: 14-822 and 14-824
• Second fall: 14-823 and 14-825