Cybersecurity (Bachelor of Science, B.S.)

This is a draft edition of the 2025-2026 catalog. Information contained within is subject to change.

The Bachelor of Science program in Cybersecurity is a workforce generator for the growing field of cybersecurity. Students will gain both theoretical and hand-on skills to improve the security posture of a system. Students will also learn cyber laws, security governance and risk management, and incident response processes. The program prepares students for relevant security certification exams.

The student must be enrolled in CSC 184 Introduction to Computer Programming or have completed CSC 184 Introduction to Computer Programming with a grade of C or higher, or have an ACT composite score of 25 or higher, or an ACT Science Reasoning score of 28 or higher. In addition, the student must have an overall GPA of at least 2.0.

Students who choose this bachelor degree program will have no more than 6 years from admission or subsequent declaration to meet the requirements listed below. If certification, accreditation or statutory requirements change and additional requirements become effective during this time, the new requirements take precedence. 

Note: Students pre-admitted into the bachelor degree program (pre-major) have three years to meet admission requirements before moving to the overall 6 year time-frame allowed to complete the program requirements.
General Studies42
Students must complete General Studies courses 1
Major Requirements73
ACT 101Introduction to Information Technology3
ACT 301Applied Database Systems3
CRJ 100Introduction to Criminal Justice3
CSC 184Introduction to Computer Programming3
CSC 264Computer Architecture and Assembly Language Programming3
CSC 274Introduction to Unix/Linux3
CSC 294Networking and Telecommunications3
CSC 374UNIX/Linux System Administration3
CSC 386Operating Systems Concepts3
MAT 111Introductory Statistics3
or MAT 111E Introductory Statistics
PHL 230Ethics3
SEC 100Introduction to Cybersecurity3
SEC 200Computer Hardware and Peripherals3
SEC 260Introduction to Digital Forensics3
SEC 305Applied Cryptography3
SEC 310Securing and Defending Networks3
SEC 325Cybercrime3
SEC 350Emerging Technologies in Cybesecurity3
SEC 360Laws and Ethics in Cybersecurity and AI3
SEC 380Critical Infrastructure Threats and Security3
SEC 400Cyber Investigations3
SEC 425Ethical Hacking 23
SEC 445Security Program Governance 23
SEC 490Cybersecurity Career Preparation1
SEC 495Cybersecurity Capstone3
1

Courses in general studies may also be required within the major. While the course(s) may satisfy both requirements, the credit hours will count only one time in the overall hours earned.

2

500-level versions of these courses are also available to meet these requirements.  Students desiring to take 500 level courses must meet the criteria required for undergraduates to enroll in graduate level courses.

Program Graduation Requirements 

  1. Earn a grade of C or higher in all major coursework.
  2. Earn an overall GPA of at least 2.0 and a major GPA of at least 2.0.

University Graduation Requirements 

  1. Earn a minimum of 120 credit hours (100 level and higher, maximum of 6 CED credit hours applicable).
  2. Earn a minimum of 30 credit hours in upper-division courses.  Lower-division transfer courses accepted as meeting upper-division departmental course requirements cannot be used to fulfill this requirement.
  3. Earn 30 of the last 45 credit hours at MWSU in institutional coursework (exclusive of credit by examination).
  4. Participate in required departmental and campus wide assessments. 
  5. Fulfill the Missouri Constitution requirement.
  6. Successfully pass the Missouri Higher Education Civics Achievement exam.