Earn Your Bachelor of Business Administration in Cyber Security at UTSA

Cybersecurity is a relevant topic for everyone today, personally and professionally. This three-hour course covers core security terminology and concepts and discusses current challenges and threats faced by individuals, organizations, and nations through current topics, case studies, and hands-on labs, and career profiles. We introduce a few tools of the trade to familiarize students with the problem-solving techniques and analytical skills needed for cybersecurity and related degree programs, and with the aim of increasing awareness of the field and its critical importance to our world.

This course introduces programming logic and constructs in Python and basic command-line scripting in Linux and Windows environments. Control structures, arithmetic and logical operators, functions, arrays, regular expressions, classes/objects, and exception handling are covered in Python. Students will also write Bash and PowerShell scripts to execute basic processes and tasks. The emphasis will be on building problem-solving and coding skills that apply to any language.

A study of database management systems (DBMS) features, functions, and architecture, including logical design, data models, normalization, object-oriented data, and database administration. A DBMS product will be used to illustrate principles.

IS 3033 is a hands-on course with an emphasis on studying real-world cyber security challenges of Operating System (OS). Throughout the course, students will be introduced to the fundamental knowledge of OS such as process scheduling, memory management, I/O device and file systems etc. as well as hands-on approaches to securing and hardening the essential components of a specified OS (Unix-like or Windows). The lab exercises of this course provide students with comprehensive practices on secure operation and maintenance, secure server configuration, system-level firewalls, kernel security module, logging, and anti-malware measures, etc.

Includes an in-depth look at basic telecommunications terminology and concepts. Introduction to voice and data networks, signaling and multiplexing. Network topologies and protocol fundamentals and architectures are presented and compared. Ethernet, IEEE 802.11x, TCP/IP, dedicated circuit, and VPN technologies are introduced. Network security fundamentals are explored.

The course provides a foundation in networking technologies that are core to creating secure networks. Topics included in this course are basic cryptography, secure networking protocols, logical and physical security management and security devices. Relation between these technologies and operational and implementation issues for these technologies will also be discussed. (Formerly titled “Secure Network Design.”)

This course will provide the student the opportunity to learn about the basic elements that comprise Information Assurance Security. An in-depth presentation of information assurance topics such as fraud, eavesdropping, traffic analysis, intrusion detection and prevention, hacking, viruses, cryptography, risk management, and secure architectures will be discussed.

This course will provide the student with the opportunity to learn about the elements that comprise intrusion detection and incident response. It provides an in-depth look at intrusion detection methodologies, tools, and approaches to handling intrusions when they occur. It examines the laws that address cyber crime and intellectual property issues, and includes a study of proper computer and network forensics procedures to aid in the identification and tracking of intruders and in the potential prosecution of criminal activity.

The digital forensic investigation process involves organizational preparation, incident response, data collection, data analysis, and communication of findings. This course will teach students how to prepare for incidents, how to respond to incidents, and how to reliably collect digital data. Students will be introduced to various types of storage media and sources of volatile data. Students will also be introduced to forensic accounting principles and practices as well as fundamental legal issues related to digital forensics.

Prerequisite: IS 3413 with a grade of “C-” or better or consent of instructor. This course will provide the student the opportunity to learn about the basic elements that comprise Information Assurance Security. An in-depth presentation of information assurance topics such as fraud, eavesdropping, traffic analysis, intrusion detection and prevention, hacking, viruses, cryptography, risk management, and secure architectures will be discussed. (Formerly IS 4453. Credit cannot be earned for both IS 3513 and IS 4453).

Prerequisite: IS 3513 with a grade of “C-” or better. This course will provide the student with the opportunity to learn about the elements that comprise intrusion detection and incident response. It provides an in-depth look at intrusion detection methodologies, tools, and approaches to handling intrusions when they occur. It examines the laws that address cyber crime and intellectual property issues, and includes a study of proper computer and network forensics procedures to aid in the identification and tracking of intruders and in the potential prosecution of criminal activity.

An introductory course in laws and legal issues that affect law enforcement, businesses, and investigators related to the preservation, collection, and analysis of digital data. Students will examine computer crime laws, civil and criminal laws that often involve electronic evidence, search and seizure of electronic evidence, judicial issues involving the admissibility of electronic evidence and related testimony, and legal issues involved with electronic surveillance.

An introductory course in collecting, examining, and preserving evidence of crimes involving digital devices. This course examines the issues, tools, and control techniques needed to successfully investigate illegal activities facilitated through the use of information technology. The tools of collecting, examining, and evaluating data in an effort to establish intent, culpability, motive, means, methods, and loss resulting from such crimes will be examined.

Prerequisite: IS 4483. This course examines advanced digital forensic analysis topics, tools, techniques, and control mechanisms. Advanced topics include operating system artifacts, non-standard file systems, mobile devices, malware, and volatile memory. Students will gain experience with state-of-the-art forensics tools and techniques needed to successfully investigate illegal activities perpetuated through the use of information technology.