UT Dallas has started a bachelor's program that teaches undergraduates to build secure computer systems and to work through the legal, ethical and governance questions that follow a breach.
The Bachelor of Science in cybersecurity technology and policy began this fall, the university announced Friday. It is offered jointly by the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, and won approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Two faculty members coordinate it: Dr. Rym Zalila-Wenkstern, a computer science professor and interim head of that department, and Memduh Tura, an associate professor of practice who also directs the university's master's program in cyber security, technology and policy.
Policy courses as a core requirement
Tura said the technical side is only half of the job. "Cybersecurity is a public policy problem as much as a technical one," he said in the university's announcement.
When a hospital or city government is hit by ransomware, he said, the follow-up questions are about who was responsible, what the law requires, how the public should be informed and who pays to fix it, and graduates who know only the technology cannot answer them. That is the reason policy and governance classes are central to the degree, he said.