Earn Your Master of Professional Studies in Cybersecurity Management

You will need a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field with a minimum GPA of 3.0 and/or significant relevant work experience with a bachelor’s degree in another major.

Please begin your online application by registering for an account and providing:

• A copy of your resume
• Official government-issued photo ID
• 500-word personal statement
• Official Transcripts
• Application fee ($50)

You will also need to schedule an interview with the program director. If accepted into the MPS in Cybersecurity Management program, you will be notified by email within seven business days. You will then receive your user ID and password. If you are a returning Tulane student, you will have your previous TU user ID and passwords reactivated.

SoPA awards the MPS in Cybersecurity Management following the successful completion of 11 graduate courses comprised of nine core courses, one elective, and one capstone course, with no thesis required. To earn the MPS, a student must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.00. At the beginning of the semester, students must also apply for a degree, available from the SoPA Dean’s office, in which the student plans to complete all required coursework.

In addition to the required core courses for the MPS in Cybersecurity Management, students may select two elective courses from a wide range of choices. Additionally, elective courses may result in a graduate degree concentration. The Online Master’s in Cybersecurity Management offers two optional concentrations: Homeland Security and Emergency Operations. By diving deep into the rapidly evolving field of cybersecurity, students receive the tools needed to accurately assess risks and create strategic plans to protect organizations and clients from ever-present security threats, with a focus on these two vital industries.

The Homeland Security concentration provides rigorous preparation for cybersecurity jobs in a critical and fast-moving field. The courses in this concentration equip learners with the strategic planning and analytical skills needed to identify and assess threats to the nation. Graduates will be able to leverage technology to help thwart terrorist activity while abiding by legal and ethical considerations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects a 28% growth in information security analyst jobs between 2016 and 2026, a rate that the BLS states is much higher than the average for other occupations.

Students will employ critical analysis to examine key policy issues and the balances that must be addressed in strategic counterterrorism planning, particularly in the use of applied technology within the context of civil jurisdiction and the rule of law. The course will examine terrorist threats to the homeland and how the application of science and technology can meet these threats. Discussions will include policy issues that address balancing the sometimes competing interests of security and civil liberties to counter terrorism threats effectively. These issues are addressed from the governance perspective of a liberal democracy. Strategic planning principles that integrate the capabilities of current and future applied technology and the key legal and policy issues that must be resolved to make effective use of information as balanced against civil liberties will be explored as well.

This course is designed to give students an advanced understanding of intelligence gathering and analysis as it relates to critical thinking. This course provides the cybersecurity linkages to money laundering, risk management, risk assessment factors, operational concepts, and strategic implications. It is a logical progression that further examines the collaborative process of intelligence analysis that provides homeland security professionals with the tools, framework, and concepts they need to further develop their leadership skills by understanding how the synthesis and utilization of intelligence impacts decision making in tactical, operational, and strategic settings. This course also emphasizes the principles of a holistic, all-hazards approach to preparedness.

This course on existing and evolving laws will teach students about agreements, legal decisions, regulations, and compliances pertaining to cybersecurity and enterprise IT. Students will explore ethical considerations of cybersecurity practices, including social networking and privacy, in the context of enterprise cybersecurity management.

A well-planned and thorough emergency operations plan is crucial to every business, government agency, and individual in today’s unpredictable, highly technical, and automated world. The Emergency Operations concentration offers robust training in crisis management and recovery efforts for nonmedical emergency managers. This concentration prepares graduates to identify, evaluate, and respond to a range of crises and to effectively strategize ways to maintain organizational security and ensure business continuity. An impressive 28% growth in information security analyst jobs is projected between 2016 and 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This course provides students with advanced information on current threats to IT systems, including an array of current and evolving exploitation methods and vulnerabilities. Through research and lectures, students will examine attacks and attackers to understand their motivations, purposes, goals, types, and phases. This course also considers emerging technologies and technical uses (such as blockchain, the Internet of Things, and quantum computing) from the standpoint of threats and security.

This course offers an advanced study of the important health and medical management issues involved in crises and emergencies presented for the nonmedical emergency manager. Course materials will describe the wide range of medical and health issues inherent to a crisis, including biological, radiological, and nuclear emergencies. Students will focus on innovative response and recovery, including long-term public health recovery issues as well as methods for integrating medical, public health, and psychological processes into emergency management.

As businesses across the globe utilize extended supply chains, productivity has increased, but it has come at the cost of increased vulnerability. Organizations cannot afford to be unprepared for traditional and emerging threats. Business continuity is a growing segment of emergency management in the private sector. This specialty works to ensure continuous business operations before, during, and after disasters or normal disruptions. It is designed to provide strategies tied to national and international standards for the development of detailed business continuity plans. Students will discuss managing disruptions, maintaining continuity of critical operations, and mitigating losses that occur when work is interrupted. Based on the all-hazards framework, students will learn about different methods for tackling various threats, including political instability and cyber attacks. Regardless of the impetus for such disruptive events, students will be prepared to train employees to both mitigate and recover from them. Students will also discuss best practices in the ongoing recovery efforts after an event.

Students will learn about the development of enterprise security for networks and telecommunications. Coursework will include examining defense architecture as well as best-practice implementations of security tools, solutions, methods, and constructs for testing network security. These ideas will help students build an understanding of the fundamental aspects of designing a secure network.

This course takes a 360-degree study of cyber incident responses and investigations from the standpoint of a cybersecurity manager. Students will learn how to secure a cyber incident scene, preserve digital evidence, establish and maintain a chain of custody, safeguard evidence, use forensic analysis and tools, and examine and review evidence. As part of this review, students will consider decision matrices for notifying and working with government and law enforcement agencies.

Students in good standing may petition to transfer a maximum of nine credit hours (three courses) of graduate coursework from other colleges or universities to the MPS degree. However, only courses with grades of B or better, completed within five years of enrolling in the MPS program, may be considered for transfer credit.

The MPS courses are designed to be taken in any order, except for the intro course and capstone. Below is an example of how a typical part-time MPS student may progress through the courses.

Spring and Summer 2020 Tuition

• All SoPA Graduate: $1,039/credit

Spring and Summer 2020 Fees

• Graduate Application Fee: $50
• Academic Support Fee: $60
• Graduate Credit for Prior Learning Portfolio Fee: $1,000

Some courses require fees. Please check the schedule of classes for individual course fees.