Minor in Cybersecurity

Where could someone find a weakness in a system you depend on? If you enjoy solving puzzles or tinkering with code, a minor in Cybersecurity can help you use that curiosity to protect others. You’ll learn to recognize weaknesses in digital systems and ways to address them.

Paired with your major, cybersecurity knowledge could help you protect personal health information, safeguard financial transactions or secure government research data. From transportation networks to voting systems, you can bring a security perspective to the problems that matter to you.

Student leans in front of another to observe something on a laptop

What You'll Study

Cybersecurity

You’ll study programming, cybersecurity fundamentals, information security, network security and digital forensics. You’ll use monitoring tools to identify threats, examine ways to control access to data and read and write investigation reports. You’ll also practice basic system administration and apply attack and defense strategies to scenarios. Alongside this technical work, you’ll consider how security decisions affect people and organizations, including the legal and ethical responsibilities involved.

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Connect it to Your Major

Your major gives you context for the data: what it represents, which questions matter and what a finding might mean.

For example:

  • Business Analytics and AI: Investigate suspicious activity in AI systems to identify misuse and reduce risks to businesses and customers.
  • Public Policy: Guide policy decisions on public data collection, security threats and institutional accountability.
  • Music Production & Recording Arts: Help protect unreleased music and share recordings securely with collaborators.

These are possible directions. Your knowledge of another field helps you see what’s at stake when information is exposed.

Minor Requirements & Courses

The Cybersecurity minor is a 20 semester hour program combining a computer science foundation with coursework in information security, network security and digital forensics. Its required courses give you tools to recognize security threats and protect digital systems and information across fields.

Required courses - 20 semester hours

  • Introduction to Cybersecurity
  • Computer Science I
  • Digital Forensics
  • Information Security
  • Network Security

View the Full Degree Requirements & Course Descriptions

Your Faculty

Faculty traditionally associated with the minor in Data Science

Program Coordinator