Providing personal information on the Internet can save time and offer convenience, but it also carries well-known risks.
Hackers, identity thieves and malicious software can jeopardize someone’s financial and personal well-being with just a few clicks of a mouse.
(Courtesy of Saint Leo University)
Even if you try not to share your information online, companies that have your data and store it on their computers can make you susceptible if they become a target of hackers.
As a result, cybersecurity — the efforts of organizations to thwart attacks on networks and sensitive data — has become an important focal point for information technology professionals.
At Saint Leo University, it’s about to be a masters degree program. And according to Vyas Krishnan, a professor with the department of computer science and information systems as well as the lead academic technologist, it couldn’t come at a better time.
“You hear in the news about so many data breaches, and hackers getting onto corporations’ networks and stealing either customers information or stealing their proprietary information,” Krishnan said. “This problem has been worsening over the past five years.”
Because of increased demand, the industry is seeing a shortage of trained cybersecurity professionals, he said, making the program valuable to prospective students.
Krishnan will oversee the new 36-credit hour program beginning this fall. The first offerings will be on-campus only, with online availability coming early next year.
A combination of five existing courses offered at the university and seven new courses make up the program, which attempts to cover the areas of vulnerability that exist in systems run by corporations or government agencies. And those systems, Krishnan said, are getting more complicated and more vulnerable as time goes on.
“A lot of the complexity of information technology infrastructure has resulted in multiple points of weakness,” he said.
As a result, a professional in that field needs to know the various areas where threats can manifest, how to defend against them, and how to maintain the integrity of the entire system.
Class subjects include database security, risk management, cloud computing security, systems security management, network security, strategic planning, and legal and compliance issues. The latter is important because different business sectors such as health and finance have different requirements, and a skilled cybersecurity professional needs to know the nuances of their particular industry, Krishnan said.
Graduation results in earning a master’s degree, but there’s more to it than that. Industry certifications are an important part of the information technology field, Krishnan said, and the program is designed to help graduates qualify for them.
The new program, which is open to students with some previous information technology education or work experience, was 18 months in the making. The university already is pleased with the initial interest, officials said. Around 20 students will take part when the degree is first offered, which exceeds Saint Leo’s original goals.
The online offering in 2015 will allow them to increase capacity as well.
Krishnan, who has been with the university for five years and played an integral role in getting this program off the ground, also is satisfied with the program’s development and course offerings.
“I feel very good about it,” he said. “I think we’ve done a great job in putting together a very sophisticated, technically advanced, state-of-the-art program.”
Protecting yourself from cyber threats
While no system is 100 percent safe, there are some common sense steps individuals can take to keep themselves better protected from threats, said Vyas Krishnan, who oversees the new cybersecurity masters program at Saint Leo University.
• Make sure your computer has an antivirus program and firewall installed. These tools help identify existing threats and prevent them from getting through to your computer.
• Keep your operating system up to date, and let it update automatically if possible. ‘It’s a complex piece of software, and when it’s initially released in the market, there could be some vulnerabilities that they may not be aware of,’ Krishnan said. Updates allow the company to close potential holes in the system, but they can’t fix the problems if the user doesn’t allow it to be updated.
• Make sure any website where you give personal information is secure. A website where you have to type in personal information should have ‘https://’ instead of ‘http://’ in the address bar. That extra ‘s’ means the information is encrypted and better protected.
• Be careful about responding to emails that look like they’re from companies you know. Legitimate correspondence from a company won’t ask you to provide sensitive information. If it does, it could be a scam designed to look like a real email from a known company.
Published August 27, 2014
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