Sagar Raina, assistant professor of Information Technology at the Mount.
Mount Saint Mary College is proud to announce that the Division of Mathematics and Information Technology will begin offering a Cybersecurity major in the Fall 2020 semester.
The program, recently approved by New York State, will yield a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity.
The Mount has offered a popular Cybersecurity concentration since 2017. In addition to the new major, Cybersecurity will continue to be offered as a concentration for Information Technology majors, giving students the flexibility to choose the option that suits them best.
“Cybersecurity is a global crisis,” notes Sagar Raina, assistant professor of Information Technology at the Mount. “As cyber threats and attacks are continuously increasing, there is a great demand for a skilled cybersecurity workforce. The Cybersecurity major and concentration at the Mount are designed to meet these demands to ultimately produce highly-skilled cybersecurity professionals.”
Both the upcoming Cybersecurity major and the existing concentration provide comprehensive coverage of technical, ethical, legal, and contemporary topics in the field. They offer theoretical and hands-on skills to identify and mitigate security vulnerabilities in software applications, operating systems, computer networks, the internet, and mobile networks, as well as an insider understanding of the mathematical algorithms behind encryption and decryption techniques. They also build a foundation in the cybersecurity field with courses in programming, databases, and computer networking.
Students majoring in Cybersecurity will learn necessary skills in the areas of digital forensics, ethical hacking, and penetration testing.
“Cybersecurity is really a computing-based interdisciplinary course of study,” said Raina. “It involves understanding of law, policy, ethics, and risk management from other disciplines. The new major provides necessary foundations in all these areas.”
A major or concentration in Cybersecurity at the Mount can lead to careers in technology, security software, defense, government, teaching, e-commerce, banking, finance, business, and more. Upon completing the program, graduates will have the technical and managerial skills to work in IT departments or computer security companies throughout the country.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, cybersecurity-related jobs are projected to grow by 28 percent by the year 2026, which is much faster than average. The median annual wage for an information security analyst was more than $98,000 last year.
Mount IT students have interned with IBM, Google, Travelers Insurance, UPS, Marvel, RAL, and area businesses and schools.