If cyber crime is a growth industry, so is fighting cyber crime.
The University of Washington Tacoma is the latest school to join the ranks of colleges and universities offering degrees in fighting cyber crooks.
The Master in Cybersecurity and Leadershipwill be offered at UW Tacoma beginning this June.
Bryan Goda, a professor with the school’s Institute of Technology, is heading up the new degree program. He says it came about because of a request for such a program from a National Guard unit based at Camp Murray south of Tacoma.
“Normally, you call the National Guard to respond to floods or fires or something like that, but this national guard would respond to a cyber attack," he said.
In addition to training the National Guard’s cyber warfare unit, the program will educate people who want to work for corporations or local governments. He says there's a growing need.
“If you talk to the city of Seattle, they get thousands of attacks everyday. Banks are under attack, little cities are under attack,” he said.
There are other cyber security programs in the region, including Associates Degrees at Tacoma Community College and Edmonds Community College.
The new Master in Cybersecurity and Leadership at the UW Tacoma will be part of the Institute of Technology and the Milgard School of Business and, according to officials at the school, will place an emphasis on leadership as well as technology skills.
There will be an information session for students interested in the new degree program on March 27 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in GWP 320 on the UW Tacoma campus. The application deadline for the program is April 30.
