Course
Build Your Expertise in a Thriving Tech Field
With UMass Lowell's Master of Science in Security Studies: Cybersecurity Concentration program, you will develop the knowledge and abilities you need to successfully pinpoint and address the technology, security and human weaknesses that leave organizations of all sizes and types vulnerable to data breaches and cyberattacks.
Earn Your Master's Degree in as Little as 18 Months
This 10-course master's degree program offers a unique combination of graduate-level courses in two distinct disciplines: criminal justice and information technology. Through the core criminal justice courses, you will study contemporary issues in security management, intelligence policy and practice, national security, and cyber-crime trends. The information technology electives will allow you to explore a broad array of computer and network security topics such as virtual systems management, secure mobile networks, cloud computing and digital forensics.
Cybersecurity is an increasingly important concern for all different types of organizations, including local, state and federal government agencies; defense contractors; biotech and research firms; advanced technology companies; and numerous other business entities that are concerned with the protection of their information capital.
Ranked #3 Best Online Graduate Criminal Justice Programs in the Nation by U.S. News & World Report
UMass Lowell has been designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Research by the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security
Open the Door to a variety of Opportunities
Offered entirely online, the program's enriching, interdisciplinary curriculum will prepare you to pursue a broad range of information security careers in both the private and public sectors. With the M.S. in Security Studies: Cybersecurity Concentration program, you will increase your career opportunities and deepen your professional knowledge of a diverse range of topics including:
- computer network security principles
- intelligence collection and analysis
- the history and evolving nature of the relationship between technology, crime and security
- domestic and international security threats and responses
- critical infrastructure protection
- strategies and agencies (federal and state) that aim to protect the nation from cyber attacks
Learn from a Leader in Terrorism and Security Studies Research
The Center for Terrorism and Security Studies (CTSS) was established at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in 2013 to bring together faculty from several colleges at UMass Lowell (and from other institutions and organizations in the Commonwealth) to work on a variety of collaborative research projects addressing the evolution, convergence and complexity of such domestic and foreign security challenges as terrorism, cybersecurity, transnational crime and weapons of mass destruction.
CTSS faculty, staff and fellows — who are internationally recognized experts in their respective fields — represent such diverse disciplines as psychology, criminology, political science, education, philosophy and computer science.
In May 2018, the median annual wages for information security analysts in the top industries in which they worked were as follows:
Industry |
Median Annual Wages |
|---|---|
| Computer systems design and related services | $102,620 |
| Finance and insurance | $101,130 |
| Information | $96,580 |
| Management of companies and enterprises | $94,180 |
| Administrative and support services | $94,120 |
