You may want to look at Embry Riddle . They have quite a few majors such as cybersecurity, homeland security etc. I have a close friend that works for the FBI in cybersecurity who said they’re not super selective with where your CS is from.
Go into the military because you feel you must or because you really want to be an officer - not to help a career. Those who do it for advancement are, IMO, a real threat to their own troops. Don’t be that officer.
Having some private sector experience is a very good thing before a government career. Knowing what it’s like on the outside adds credibility and gives you confidence that you can step into the private sector if there’s a RIF or something. Also, it can be more intense, and cutting your professional teeth in a performance oriented pressure cooker is really useful.
The school matters less, I think, than the curriculum. I’d look to make sure you can get classes in data communications, operating systems, C or C++ ( with lots of work in pointers) , and assembly language. The attacks will likely exploit weaknesses and strengths in these fields, and being on a first name basis with both the stack and kernel would have to help.
My $0.02
Thanks for the advice so far!
@50N40W would HAL (high level assembly) also be suitable?
CSAW High School Forensics (HSF) contest on now through Oct. 9: https://csaw.engineering.nyu.edu/hsf
I wouldn’t join the military for this purpose, the NSA website does not even require it. Also don’t get a MS on your own dime, let your employers pay for it.
It is my opinion that it is more valuable not to go into the private sector right after getting a bachelors and then returning for a masters as forgetting theoretical knowledge is a real risk to academics.
What I know is that there is a government program that pays for a person’s terminal degree (like masters) and the person it then obligated to work in the government for 2 years. Win-win.
Many private companies offer similar programs.
Cyber security requires a strong background in computer science and math.
An IT degree does not provide good skills for cyber security. Most of the security breaches were caused by incompetent IT managers.
You should major in a strong CS program then go to graduate school for cyber security (or apply to NSA with the BS degree and get training in NSA).
We used this NSA Centers of Academic Excellence list for my son: https://www.nsa.gov/ia/academic_outreach/nat_cae/institutions.shtml
There’s a wide range of schools, from community colleges to Ivies.
@GLOBALTRAVELER works as a contractor for NSA and he graduated from Michigan Tech if my memory is correct.
OP, the risk to academics is something I don’t understand. I took a year off after my BS and I got back to the MS just fine. You have to learn new stuff once you graduate from college. What risk are you referring too?
@JoeyPapagobich asked:
HAL? HLA?
If you get into registers and stack pointers and can jimmy things around that way … sure. But probably not.
Think of the problem as security being like a gardener putting up a fence around the carrots. To have confidence in that fence, you need be like an immensely clever rabbit. Anything the rabbit knows about how fences are installed, how they work, and how they begin to break when they fail allows the rabbit to get carrots.
Disclaimer: I’ve seen some CS grads come out of schools without knowing much about pointers, interactions with the OS, or the inner workings of the machine. I don’t know for certain what any given cybersecurity program entails, but I can’t imagine that kind of CS program (more theoretical; without a solid foundation in understanding the machine) would keep your carrots intact. Maybe there’s another aspect, I dunno.
Oops I think @GLOBALTRAVELER graduated from Michigan State not Michigan Tech, I don’t know if there is such school.
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… Michigan State not Michigan Tech, I don’t know if there is such school.
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There is. There is nothing wrong with Michigan State, but I’ve been impressed with the engineers I’ve worked with from MI Tech. It’s DD’s top pick at the moment - has been since we visited.
Hello all!
How would you find the CS program at the University of South Carolina to be, for an undergrad?
Practical or more theoretical?
I am attaching two links below for more information.
https://cse.sc.edu/undergraduate/cs/clusters
Would it teach me about pointers and os and practical matters well?
The risk is forgetting all that stuff during one year, maybe @DrGoogle had it different back then, but the risk of forgetting the theoretical CS stuff is real.
Not really unless you are the forgetful type. I was off work for 1.5 years after given birth to my oldest child and when I came back to work I didn’t forget anything. I was complimented by my boss and he was a PhD working at JPL. Plus there was stuff that I learned 10 years before this job that I had to relearn to do my job. Figuring out things is part of and engineering job. Plus if you do forget there are lots of stuff online now to refresh your memory. There are things you learn that you never can unlearn, like 2+2, who would forget that.
I see. @DrGoogle. What is your opinion of the Computer Science program at USC? Is it a good preparation for cyber security or not?
Pointers are basic stuff, I’m surprised you would not learned in most CS schools. But for some people it was never properly understood hence they never learned it.
EDIT to add that I’m trying to say maybe you didn’t quite understand it to start out, even passing a class, there is no guaranteed.
I am sorry, but I do not understand your post at number 58. What are you trying to say?