Undergraduate Certificate in Cybersecurity and Privacy

Cybersecurity and privacy are fundamentally important across a large variety of fields, including many industry sectors (e.g., banking, healthcare, critical infrastructure, etc.) and government agencies (e.g., NSA, DoD, DHS, etc.). This CS Undergraduate Certificate in Cybersecurity and Privacy aims to provide students with a solid background in cybersecurity and privacy topics and prepare them for a future career in this highly attractive and remunerative field. 

To earn the certificate, students must complete a total of 18-20 hours of undergraduate coursework, with 8 hours of required core courses and 10-12 hours of electives. The requirements include: 

Core Courses (8 hours): 

CSCI 4250 Cyber Security (4 hours) or CSCI 4260 Data Security and Privacy (4 hours) 

CSCI 4730 Operating Systems (4 hours) or CSCI 4760 Computer Networks (4 hours) 

 

Electives (10-12 hours) - choose additional courses from the list below (if not taken as Core Courses): 

CSCI 4250, Cyber Security (4 hours) 

CSCI 4260, Data Security and Privacy (4 hours) 

CSCI 4270, Introduction to Computer Forensics (4 hours) 

CSCI 4730, Operating Systems (4 hours) 

CSCI 4760, Computer Networks (4 hours) 

CSCI 4780, Distributed Computing Systems (4 hours) 

CSCI 4960*, Faculty Mentored Research in Computer Science (2-4 hours) 

MATH 4450, Cryptology and Computational Number Theory (3 hours) 

MIST 5775, Cyber Threat Intelligence (3 hours) 

NOTE: Students are strongly encouraged to take both CSCI 4250 Cybersecurity and CSCI 4260 Data Security and Privacy (one of them to satisfy core requirements, and one as elective). 

For DoubleDawgs students: Students who enroll in the DoubleDawgs program in Cybersecurity and Privacy will be able to take the 6000-level version of CSCI 4730, CSCI 4760, CSCI 4250 and CSCI 4260 to satisfy both the undergraduate certificate requirements and the DoubleDawgs program requirements. 

*Note on CSCI 4960: Students who enroll in CSCI 4960 are strongly encouraged to participate in UGA’s CURO program and related CURO symposium: https://curo.uga.edu 

Systems Security focus:  

Students who are interested in systems security are recommended to take the following courses: 

• CSCI 4730 Operating Systems (4) 

• CSCI 4250 Cybersecurity (4) 

• CSCI 4260 Data Security and Privacy (4) 

• CSCI 4270 Intro to Computer Forensics (4) 

• CSCI 4780 Distributed Computing Systems (4) or CSCI 4960* Faculty-mentored research with systems security faculty (3-4). 
  
   

Network Security and Privacy focus:  

Students who are interested in network security and privacy are recommended to take the following courses: 

• CSCI 4760 Computer Networks (4) 

• CSCI 4250 Cybersecurity (4) 

• CSCI 4260 Data Security and Privacy (4) 

• MIST 5775 Cyber-Threat Intelligence (3) 

• MATH 4450 Cryptology and Computational Number Theory (3) or CSCI 4270 Intro to Computer Forensics (4) or CSCI 4960* Faculty-mentored research with network security or privacy faculty (3-4). 
  
   

Suggested three-semester schedule 

Suggested four-semester schedule