A Critical Review of Cybersecurity Education in the United States
This work examines the state-of-the-art of cybersecurity education in the United States by considering two sources of data. The first source consists of Programs of Study for cybersecurity programs at Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity designated by the National Security Agency. Statistics were aggregated from a sample of one hundred CAE-C institutions, trends and gaps are identified, and improvements are proposed. The second source is peer-reviewed research published in the field of cybersecurity education over the last decade. A review of this literature shows a strong focus on identifying instructional content and developing educational tools while simultaneously indicating a shortage of research into rigorous evaluation of the instructional approaches being used to teach cybersecurity. Our review of these two sources of data highlight two paths to improving cybersecurity education in the United States. First, institutions offering cybersecurity degrees could work more closely with groups such as NIST, ACM, and IEEE to ensure their curricula match the needs of industry and they are graduating work-ready cybersecurity specialists. While CAE-C designation provides some minimum requirements for the amount of cybersecurity content included in curricula, designated institutes vary widely in the types of programs they offer and how many cybersecurity-specific courses they provide. Second, cybersecurity education could benefit from an influx of ideas from educational psychology regarding instructional theories and empirical evaluation of pedagogies.
Fri 22 MarDisplayed time zone: Pacific Time (US & Canada) change
10:45 - 12:00 | Cybersecurity - crosscutting and diversityPapers at Meeting Rooms B117-119 Chair(s): Madison Thomas North Carolina State University | ||
10:45 25mTalk | A Critical Review of Cybersecurity Education in the United States Papers James Crabb Washington State University, Chris Hundhausen Oregon State University, USA, Assefaw Gebremedhin Washington State University DOI | ||
11:10 25mTalk | Cybersecurity as a Crosscutting Concept Across an Undergrad Computer Science Curriculum: An Experience ReportGlobal Papers Azqa Nadeem University of Twente, Netherlands DOI | ||
11:35 25mTalk | Remote Controlled Cyber: Toward Engaging and Educating a Diverse Cybersecurity WorkforceMSI Papers Curtice Gough Florida Institute of Technology, Carl Mann Florida Institute of Technology, Cherrise Ficke Florida Institute of Technology, Maureen Namukasa Florida Institute of Technology, Meredith Carroll Florida Institute of Technology, TJ O'Connor Florida Institute of Technology DOI |