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Cyber Operations Graduate Certificate

College of Sciences / Computer Science and Cybersecurity
Graduate certificate

About The Program

The Cyber Operations Graduate Certificate is a 17-credit program offering advanced education in offensive and defensive cybersecurity strategies. It lays a solid foundation for understanding and addressing cybersecurity threats while providing in-depth knowledge and practical skills in identifying, analyzing, and mitigating cyber risks. Additionally, the program ensures a thorough understanding of ethical considerations in cybersecurity practice. Unlike the more extensive 36-credit Master of Science in Cyber Operations (MSCyOps) degree, the Cyber Operations Graduate Certificate delivers a concentrated, intensive curriculum. It is ideal for professionals seeking to enhance their expertise in a shorter timeframe or those looking to gain specialized skills without committing to a full degree program.

Program Oversight

Positioned under Metro State University's College of Sciences, MN Cyber Institute is a statewide initiative to position Minnesota as a national leader in cybersecurity through education, innovative public/private partnerships, interdisciplinary research, and community engagement. The MN Cyber advisory board comprises representatives from public/private sectors who provide advice and guidance on the institute’s strategic plans and performance and ensure that Metro State's cyber-related program offerings are relevant, valuable, and targeted to meet workforce needs.

Job Prospects

With a Cyber Operations Graduate Certificate there is no limit to what a student can accomplish. Metro State Cyber Operations graduates can seek employment opportunities in government, military, and private sectors, including the National Security Agency (NSA), Department of Defense (DoD), Navy Space and Naval Warfare System Command, and National Labs (Sandia National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory).

National Security Agency, Center of Academic Excellence, and Center of Academic Excellence Community seals

Metro State University is a National Security Agency (NSA) designated National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (NCAE-CD) Institution. NCAE-CD institutions receive formal recognition from the U.S. Government and opportunities for prestige and publicity for securing our Nation's information systems. The Cybersecurity program curriculum also conforms to the NSA requirements for maintaining the NCAE-CD designation. Metro State is also a member of the CAE Community.

Program Features

  • Hybrid and fully-online classes offered on weekday evenings and weekend mornings.
  • Industry vetted competency-based curriculum and performance-based assessment, conforming to the requirements of NSA CAE-CO knowledge units.
  • A program with a forward-looking emphasis on current and future challenges resulting from emerging technological paradigms (e.g., cloud computing, mobile devices, embedded computing, and IoT), societal trends (e.g., privacy awareness), and the opportunity to leverage the human element in computing (social factors in cybersecurity).
  • Top-quality faculty who are industry experts with necessary backgrounds and experiences in related fields.

Cyber Operations Student Outcomes

  1. Analyze adversaries’ tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), and understand their attack strategies to identify potential attack vectors to improve defenses against advanced persistent threats.
  2. Demonstrate proficiency in communicating technical information in formal reports, documentation, and oral presentations to various stakeholders regardless of their technical backgrounds.
  3. Understand the importance of team dynamics to provide an adequate response to sophisticated breaches.
  4. Demonstrate sensitivity to and sound judgment on ethical issues and dilemmas as they arise in cybersecurity and operations. Adhere to accepted norms of professional responsibility.

How to enroll

Program eligibility requirements

Admission into the Cyber Operations Graduate Certificate Program is determined by evaluating the applicant's academic history, professional experience in computing/cybersecurity, and letters of recommendation. The graduate director is responsible for deciding on admissions to the certificate program and assessing the equivalency of transferred coursework.

The following are the minimum requirements for potential admission into the program. Meeting these requirements does not guarantee admission.

  • A bachelor's degree (preferably in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, or Computer Forensics) with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00. GPA exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis for those applicants who demonstrate a potential for academic success in other ways.

Applicants who have a bachelor's degree in a non-technical field may be admitted to the program if they meet the following conditions:

  • Completed undergraduate courses in Discrete Mathematics and Statistics with a minimum grade of B.
  • Successfully finished undergraduate courses in cybersecurity with a minimum grade of B, along with proven proficiency in Python Programming, C Programming, Assembly Language, PowerShell, Basic Data Structures and Algorithms, Systems Administration, Computer Networking, and Linux Fundamentals.
  • You must possess a minimum of one year of verifiable experience in the IT or cybersecurity sector. Depending on the comprehensive quality of the application package, considerations for exceptions may be made.

International Students

This is not a degree-granting program, therefore applications from international students studying on an F-1 student visa cannot be accepted into this program.

International Students

This is not a degree-granting program, therefore applications from international students studying on an F-1 student visa cannot be accepted into this program.

Application instructions

Metro State University is participating in the common application for graduate programs (GradCAS). Applications are only accepted via the CAS website.

CAS steps

  1. Select the term for which you are seeking admission (below), and navigate to the CAS website. Open applications include:
  2. Create or log in to your account and select the Cyber Operations Graduate Certificate program.
  3. Carefully review all instructions and complete all four sections of the application.

Specific application requirements for individual programs can be found on each program page in CAS. Carefully read the instructions that appear throughout the application pages. You can only submit your application once. If you need to update information you have submitted, please notify graduate.studies@metrostate.edu

Application fee

A nonrefundable $38 fee is required for each application.
Applications will not be processed until this fee is received.

Active-duty military, veterans, and Metro State alumni can receive an application fee waiver. Contact graduate.studies@metrostate.edu.

Courses and Requirements

SKIP TO COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Students interested in the Cyber Operations Certificate program should work with the graduate director to understand the program details and course sequencing.

Students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 and a grade of B or above in all graduate coursework.

Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills

Given the program's technical complexity and accelerated pace, students are expected to possess essential knowledge and skills. Proficiency in Python Programming, C Programming, Assembly Language, PowerShell, basic Data Structures and Algorithms, Systems Administration, Computer Networking, and Linux Fundamentals is crucial. For success in the program, it is strongly advised that students attain these competencies either through undergraduate courses or by taking short courses prior to commencing the graduate degree.

Certificate Requirements (Prerequisites + 17 credits)

Complete the following courses

Vulnerability analysis and its connection to exploit development are core skills for one involved in cyber operations. This course covers vulnerability discovery and exploitation. The focus is to understand the pattern of vulnerabilities and attacks to allow students to experience protection, risk mitigation, and identify vulnerabilities in new contexts. Topics will include buffer overflows, privilege escalation attacks, input validation issues, vulnerability discovery (fuzzing and crash dump analysis), exploit development, and mitigations (e.g., DEP, ASLR, ¿).

Full course description for Vulnerability Discovery and Exploitation

This course covers cryptography from both theoretical and practical perspective. The course provides details about advanced cryptography and its applications in the cybersecurity world. Students will learn various cryptographic algorithms and protocols and their relationships from both attack and defense perspectives. Various cryptographic tools to secure contemporary networks will be discussed as well. Students should be able to use advanced cryptographic algorithms based on elliptic curve cryptography.

Full course description for Applied Cryptography

Cyber Operations, a more specific area of cybersecurity, is a highly technical field with a hardcore focus on both cyber offense and defense strategies. This course will provide an introduction to cyber operations fundamentals. Topics include Security fundamental principles, network architecture and security technologies, network traffic and protocol analysis, and offensive and defensive cyber operations and user experience.

Full course description for Cyber Operations Fundamentals

The course will provide students with knowledge and practical skills in the field of cyber threat hunting and intelligence that can be leveraged to defend against sophisticated network intrusions and loss of proprietary information. The course will discuss various phases of the intelligence lifecycle including developing intelligence requirements, collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information; and using cyber threat intelligence to improve security at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels.

Full course description for Cyber Threat Hunting and Intelligence

Cyber Operations, a more specific area of cybersecurity, is a highly technical field with a hardcore focus on both cyber offense and defense strategies. This course will cover special cyber operations topics that are not covered elsewhere in the MS Cyber Operations program. This course will provide the opportunity to keep the program current by introducing new and in-demand topics in cyber operations including but not limited to SCADA, IoT/IIoT, embedded systems, hardware reverse engineering, secure software development, programmable logic and microcontroller design, RF Analysis, Software defined Networking, etc.

Full course description for Special Topics in Cyber Operations

Any IT development project contains significant risks. However, keeping the status quo is also risky in rapidly changing technological and competitive environments. This course is designed to familiarize the student with risk analysis concepts derived from many sources including financial, actuarial and statistical studies, insurance and risk analysis, software quality assurance methodologies, management and audit trails and many others. Student will learn to assess the risk in an information systems portfolio and develop strategies for managing the many risk types discussed: Prerequisites: MIS 600.

Full course description for Risk Analysis in Information Technology

With Information Technology playing an ever greater role in organizations, and the widespread availability of technology with the ability to collect and create information on everyone, many new ethical issues have been created. This course will frame many current ethic issues in IT and help the student develop methods of analyzing and dealing with these issues in real world situations. Topics may include issues such as privacy, copyright and intellectual property, employee monitoring approaches, multinational information flows, corporate intelligence and others. Hacking, computer security, viruses and other acts of destruction will be reviewed from an ethical perspective.

Full course description for Cyber Ethics