Information Assurance Certificate Program
Overview
Advance your career with a Certificate in Information Assurance (IA) from the University of Houston in an IA Education Program that is 4011/4014e/4016e certified by the National Security Agency (NSA).
This program is for external non-degree candidates seeking IA education and training in an NSA certified program.
Certificate program participants complete certificate courses that satisfy the national training and education standards for the duties and responsibilities of Information Systems Security (INFOSEC) Professionals (NSTISSI 4011), Information Systems Security Officers (CNSSI 4014e) and risk analysis (CNSSI 4016e). INFOSEC Professional and Officer educational and training standards are a part of the Information Assurance Courseware Evaluation (IACE) Program established by the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) within the NSA. The IA certificate program at UH helps achieve a primary goal of the CNSS of expanding the use of national standards in information assurance education and training throughout the nation.
Come learn fundamental principles of information systems security, skills to use as INFOSEC professionals or officers, and experiences in dealing with various aspects of:
- Incident response and organizational forensics.
- Cryptography methods and practices.
- Security risk analysis and management.
Elements of the Programs
- A focus on Information Assurance education and training as well as a solid grounding in security theory prepares participants for INFOSEC professional and officer positions in industry and government.
- An understanding of the fundamental INFOSEC principles, practices, and methods.
- Faculty expertise in INFOSEC principles, practices, and methods exposes participants to how they can be used to better secure business and governmental installations.
- Laboratory workshops provide participants with real-world IA educational and training experiences.
- An electronic INFOSEC toolkit that can be used to deal with security situations in business and government organizations.
Program Overview
The UH Information Assurance certificate program provides an in depth exposure to information security principles, practices, methods, and tools. The program is offered through the College of Technology as a four-course sequence over either 2 or 3 semesters. Individual courses are either offered as a three-hour evening class during the week or short-term (7-8 weeks) eight-hour class on Saturdays. The program provides two options for participants:
- The program is available for professionals who wish to complete this program without going through a full graduate program curriculum. The goal for this group would be to obtain a certificate indicating that they completed a course of study from a 4011/4014e/4016e certified program.
- This program can also be completed as a 12 hour concentration in the Technology Project Management Masters of Science degree program or courses used as electives in UH Masters programs in other disciplines. Approval for this option should be confirmed through communication with the individual's graduate advisor.
The following are the list of courses in the UH information assurance certificate program:
- Principles of Information Security (ITEC 5321) – This course is designed to be a level-setting exposure to information systems security principles, practices, methods, and tools.
- Enterprise Security: Incident Response/Corp Forensics (ITEC 6322) – This course provides an understanding of security incidents: how to detect the occurrence of a security incident, isolate the impact of the incident, mitigate damage incurred, and more clearly interpret the meaning behind artifacts of the incident.
- Applied Cryptography and Secure Communications (ITEC 6323) – This course provides an understanding of encryption principles and practices with an emphasis on applying those practices to better secure organizational communications.
- Information Security Risk Analysis and Management (ITEC 6324) – This course provides an understanding of organizational security risks and how to manage exposure to those risks.
As participants complete individual courses in the program, a UH information assurance certificate will be issued to the participant acknowledging the completion of that IA education and training course and content. A final certificate containing the CNSS logo of the NSA and the College of Technology logo is issued to participants to signify that the participant either completed 4011 or 4014e and 4016e education and training when they complete the group of courses that contain all of the elements of those standards.
Certificate Programs Schedule
| Fall 2009 | Spring 2010 |
|---|---|
|
Principle of Information Security Applied Cryptography and Secure Communications Information Security Risk Analysis and Management |
Enterprise Security: Incident Response / Corp Forensics |
Registration
Registration for any of the four information security certificate courses is accomplished through completing the Certificate Registration Form.
Registration can only be confirmed through submitting enrollment registration payment along with the completed registration form. Registration is controlled based on seating availability. To obtain seating availability information, please call 713.743.2994.
Pricing
Program fee is $1400 per course for Certificate candidates. UH graduate students can enroll in courses through the normal UH registration system with prior approval of the program coordinator of the Technology Project Management Masters of Science program.
Further Information can be obtained from professor Ed Crowley at ecrowley@uh.edu or 713.743.4096.