Master of Science in Information Technology

The societal impact of cybercrime has become commonplace; it is broadcast on the evening news and is a favorite playing field for television shows and moviemakers. Technology is a boon to society, but, in malicious hands, it becomes a valuable instrument in a dark and sinister underworld; and, unfortunately, cyber legislation and forensics have been lagging way behind when it comes to cybercrime. The process of forensics investigation can destroy the very evidence it is seeking to assimilate. The window of opportunity for collecting evidence can be a few seconds or minutes depending on the sophistication of the perpetrator. This concentration pertains to the study of various forensics models to identify, preserve, collect, examine, analyze, prepare, and present evidence for prosecuting cybercrime.

Upon successful completion of this concentration, the student will be able to:

• Evaluate data security, integrity, exposure from multifunctional devices, tracking techniques, and forensics models for analysis and examine the inherent challenges in the processes for seizing electronic evidence.
• Evaluate the principles, practices, and inherent challenges of the e-discovery process and assess the tools, techniques, and procedures to legally seize and forensically evaluate digital crime scenes.
• Analyze concealment and cloaking techniques and technologies such as cryptography, steganography, and data hiding and investigate corresponding legislation and mitigation techniques.
• Assess and mitigate potential exposures and the risks of the chain of custody and examine the methodologies to mitigate the potentially narrow window of opportunity for collecting digital evidence.
• Investigate models to examine the financial and societal impact of technology-related crime.
• Appraise the legal and regulatory compliance requirements in investigating and prosecuting technology-related crimes.

The primary challenge for ecommerce is assuring the security and integrity of information systems. We are bombarded daily by news of viruses, worms, malware, breaches, infiltrations, denial-of-service attacks, and the like. The ability of an organization to secure and assure its information technology assets is essential to conducting global commerce and to establishing a robust economy; this is a particular challenge given the rapidly changing face and assets of the virtual intruder. The ability to compromise an organization’s information assets is a direct threat to their competitive advantage; and the ability to protect the information assets of an organization is essential to maintaining clientele, trust, revenue streams, credibility, and the survival of the organization. This concentration focuses on securing the information technology assets of an organization. Areas include network security, telecommunications security, computer forensics, legal and ethical issues, cybercrime, computer forensics, information assurance, security risk mitigation, information systems audit and certification, intrusion detection, and incident handling.

Upon successful completion of this concentration, the student will be able to:

• Profile the emerging security threats and trends, and analyze the information systems vulnerabilities that they exploit.
• Assess the methods and techniques for recognizing and profiling attack patterns.
• Categorize and analyze the different types of cryptography, encryption keys, malicious software, and types of attacks.
• Analyze the methodologies for investigating computer-related crime and for incident handling.
• Appraise the legal and regulatory compliance requirements related to Information Assurance and Information Systems.
• Security and assess the social, ethical, economic, and technical impact of information systems security.
• Analyze the challenges encountered in establishing information systems security, information assurance, and business continuity.
• Examine the models and methodologies for performing security vulnerability assessment and risk mitigation; also analyze the principles and practices for appraising and certifying systems security.

The world of Information Technology is replete with projects that were abandoned because of runaway scope and cost. On the other hand, the trend in the world economy is shrinking budgets and shorter deadline, all this while projects are getting more complex. This concentration focuses on meeting industry needs for IT Managers that can manage cost, time, scope, quality, risk, and people to ensure that projects come in on time and under budget. It also addresses strategic planning and business systems analysis.

Upon successful completion of this concentration, the student will be able to:

• Appraise the principles and practices for organizing, allocating, and managing project resources.
• Analyze the project management framework, including the stakeholders, domains, phases, processes, integration, and lifecycle.
• Examine the potential complexities and pitfalls in initiating and closing projects; and assess methods to mitigate this risk.
• Appraise the unique challenges in managing the scope, time, and cost of Information Technology projects.
• Examine various project cost models; also analyze the principles of earned value management (EVM).
• Assess the principles, strategies, challenges, and measures for managing quality and risk on IT projects.
• Analyze the phases, procedures, deliverables, and best practices for business systems analysis.