EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF STUDENTS
The Center for Information Assurance and Security has been designated by the National Security Agency as a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education. The Center facilitates the consolidation of the Texas A&M University educational activities on IAS, accelerates the recognition of the university in this critical field, and meets the ever-increasing demands of society for secured information environments.
In addition to current IAS research initiatives focused on camouflaged network components, distributed security management, real-time intrusion detection, and mail server virus checking, negotiations are underway to address the launching of new research initiatives in security for super computing and investigations for development of national policies and regulations for IAS.
Our faculty understand that the crux of the future of IA are the students. Therefore, we understand the ever-increasing need for education and training in this crucial field. We highlight, below, information that may offer students guidance when deciding to pursue studies in the IA discipline.
DEGREES IN INFORMATION ASSURANCE
Texas A&M University does not offer a degree in Information Assurance and Security. However, we offer options for focus on IA within the departments of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Information Management and Systems. Majors and minors in IAS as well as Master's and Ph.D. degrees are in various stages of planning and development.In the meantime, we recommend any of the offered certificate programs, as outlined below.
CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS
Certification Programs in the Departments of Computer Science (College of Engineering) and Information and Management Systems (Mays College of Business) are currently being offered.
To complete the program, a TAMU student must complete a total of 21 Credit Hours, including:
Prerequisites (6 Credit Hours):
Required course: INFO 634 Business Data Communications Plus select ONE of the following courses: INFO 621 MIS Project Management and Implementation MGMT 630 Behavior in Organizations INFO 639 Corporate Information Planning INEN 663 Engineering Management Control Systems
Core (15 Credit Hours):
Required course: INFO 646 e-Services INFO 674 Business Information Security INFO/CPSC/INEN 685/689 Directed Studies Plus select TWO of the following courses: CPSC 410/613 Operating Systems CPSC 665 Advanced Networking and Security CPSC/MATH 673 Information, Secrecy, and Authentication I INFO 638 Information Technology in Supply Chain Management INFO 650 Data Mining INFO 669 Enterprise Resource Planning BUSH 651 National Security Policy This certificate is offered by the Texas A&M Center for Information Assurance and Security (CIAS) in collaboration with the e-Security faculty interest group. Note: It does not appear on your transcript or on your diploma.
* All courses MUST be completed with a grade of B or higher.
DISTANCE LEARNING
Departments offering the IA focus or certificate programs do not offer distance education options at this time.
OTHER TRAINING RESOURCES
- The Bell-La Padula security model. Model for computer operating system security based on the concept of "security subjects" and "security objects", and the capabilities subjects have to change objects. More information can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_La_Padula.
- The National Information Assurance Training and Education Consortium. NIATEC is a consortium of academic, industry, and government organizations to improve the literacy, awareness, training and education standards in Information Assurance. More information can be found at http://www.niatec.org/.
- National Information Assurance Glossary. This comprehensive link to terms useful to IA students or professionals can be found at http://www.cnss.gov/Assets/pdf/cnssi_4009.pdf.
- National Security Telecommunications and Information Systems Security Committee (NSTISSC) Training Standards. These are guidelines for the protection of information systems for critical infrastructure, including emergency preparedness communications, and the physical assets that support such systems. Following are provided a link to each of these standards:
- NSTISSI-4011 - INFOSEC Professionals, National Training Standard: http://www.cnss.gov/Assets/pdf/nstissi_4011.pdf
- CNSSI-4012 - Designated Approving Authority, National Training Standard: http://www.cnss.gov/Assets/pdf/cnssi_4012.pdf
- NSTISSI-4013 - System Administrators in Information Systems Security, National Training Standard: http://www.cnss.gov/Assets/pdf/cnssi_4013.pdf
- NSTISSI-4014 - Information Systems Security Officers (ISSO), National Training Standard: http://www.cnss.gov/Assets/pdf/cnssi_4014.pdf
- NSTISSI-4015 - System Certifiers, National Training Standard: http://www.cnss.gov/Assets/pdf/nstissi_4015.pdf
CONTACTS FOR IA EDUCATION
Interested students should contact any of the following faculty for advising and guidance:
- Dr. Evan Anderson, Professor, Department of Information and Operations Management, eanderson@tamu.edu
- Dr. Joobin Choobineh, Associate Professor, Department of Information and Operations Management, j-choobineh@tamu.edu
- Dr. Steve Liu, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, liu@cs.tamu.edu
- Mr. Willis Marti, Senior Lecturer, Department of Computer Science, wmarti@tamu.edu