Cybersecurity (Bachelor of Science, B.S.)

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 Studies
Students must complete General Studies courses42
ACT 101Introduction to Information Technology3
ACT 301Applied Database Systems3
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
ETC 200Introduction to Technical Communication3
MAT 116College Algebra3
PHL 230Ethics3
SEC 300Introduction to Cybersecurity3
SEC 335Network and Endpoint Security I3
SEC 415Data Security and Identity Management 13
SEC 425Ethical Hacking 13
SEC 435Network and Endpoint Security II 13
SEC 445Security Program Governance 13
SEC 455Cyberlaw and Investigations 13
SEC 490Cybersecurity Career Preparation1
Select six credit hours of the following:6
Independent Research/Project
Internship in Computer Science
Professional Certification in Computing
1

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.