Requirements of the MS in Computer Science with a Security Concentration
10 courses (30 credits)

MS Computer Science Core Requirements                                                                   
Four courses (12 credits)

1. Students must satisfy the CompSci MS core requirements:  four courses (12 credits) of the 30 credits including at least one course from Systems, Theory, and AI areas (see table below). 

Systems Core Requirement:

• Either COMPSCI 660 or COMPSCI 560 (597N) must be taken as a Systems Core for this Security concentration.
  Students may petition to the Master's Program Director to substitute this requirement with a class roughly equivalent to either and that the equivalent of receiving a "B grade or higher" was awarded. (Students should not expect the credits to necessarily transfer to the MS degree.)
• Courses from the MS COMPSCI Systems Core menu or the Security Systems Core menu count as a second Systems core for this concentration only.

Security Systems Core menu:

This table is an example. The tables are maintained by the Master's Program Director according to current/regular course offerings.

• COMPSCI 660 Advanced Information Assurance
• COMPSCI 560 Introduction to Computer and Network Security (formerly COMPSCI 597N)
• COMPSCI 565 Advanced Digital Forensics (formerly COMPSCI 590K)
• COMPSCI 661 Secure Distributed Systems
• COMPSCI 561 System Defense and Test (formerly COMPSCI 590A)
• COMPSCI 564 Cyber Effects: Reverse Engineering, Exploit Analysis, and Capability Development (formerly COMPSCI 590J
• COMPSCI 690C Foundations of Applied Cryptography

A grade of "B" or better is required for core classes. (One more course is technically allowed, but it's no longer offered. For completeness, that course is: COMPSCI 690B Detecting Interference in Networks.)

500-level courses do not count toward MS/PhD core requirements. Students who potentially could apply to the UMass PhD program should follow the MS/PhD core/course requirements. 

12 credits

Security Electives Requirements
Two courses (6 credits)

1. Students must take two security electives from Security Systems Electives menu.

Security Systems Electives menu:

• COMPSCI 565 Advanced Digital Forensics (formerly 590K)
• COMPSCI 661 Secure Distributed Systems
• COMPSCI 561 System Defense and Test (Formerly COMPSCI 590A)
• COMPSCI 560 Introduction to Computer and Network Security (formerly COMPSCI 597N)
• COMPSCI 690C Foundations of Applied Cryptography
• COMPSCI 563 Internet Law & Policy (formerly INFOSEC 690L)
• ECE 647: ST --Security Engineering
  
  (Also COMPSCI 690B but that course is no longer offered.)
   
• Outside courses on this list are preapproved and can count toward the CompSci MS course requirements
• ECE 544/644 may not be used towards the MS degree (since it overlaps with COMPSCI 560 previously COMPCSI 597N). Math 571 and ECE 597XX may not be used towards the MS degree (since they overlap with COMPSCI 690C Foundations of Applied Cryptography).

A grade of "B" or better is required for these classes.

 6 credits

Electives Requirements

Four courses (12 credits)

1. Students must take four additional COMPSCI courses as free electives. These courses are not limited to security courses. 

12 credits

Total

30 credits

Course Requirements:

• No more than 9 credits may come from courses outside of CICS. Credit for graduate courses from other departments must be approved by the GPD.
• No more than 18 of the course credits may come from courses at the 500 level. 500-level classes taken to satisfy core requirements fall into this group.
• At least 12 of those 18 credits must come from courses at the 600-900 level that are not independent studies. 600-level classes taken to satisfy core requirements fall into this group.
• No more than 6 credits may be pass/fail.
• At most 12 credits from independent studies and/or a Master's project (COMPSCI 701).
• Classes with a grade below a C may not be counted toward the MS degree.
• No more than 12 credits may be transferred from other programs or institutions.
• Your overall grade point average for those 30 MS credits must be 3.0 or higher.

Fall I

COMPSCI 590B Detecting Interference in Networks
COMPSCI 514 Algorithms for Data Science

First Systems core
Theory core

Spring I

COMPSCI 660 Advanced Information Assurance
COMPSCI 690A Advanced Methods in HCI
COMPSCI 590V Data Visualization and Exploration

Second System core
First elective
Second elective

Fall II

COMPSCI 563 Internet Law & Policy(formerly INFOSEC690L)
COMPSCI 589 Machine Learning
COMPSCI 611 Advanced Algorithms

First Security elective
AL core
Third elective

Spring II

COMPSCI 661 Secure Distributed Systems
COMPSCI 690D Deep Learning for Natural Language Processing

Second Security elective
Fourth elective

COMPSCI 501

Formal Language Theory

COMPSCI 575

Combinatorics and Graph Theory**

COMPSCI 514

Algorithms for Data Science**

COMPSCI 601

Computation theory

COMPSCI 617

Advanced Algorithms

COMPSCI 690AA

Approximation Algorithms

COMPSCI 513** or COMPSCI 690LG

Logic (cannot do both)

COMPSCI 690M

Machine Learning Theory

COMPSCI 690T

Coding Theory and Applications

COMPSCI 503**

Embedded Computing Systems

COMPSCI 527**

Introduction to Affective Computing

COMPSCI 590C**

Human Computer Interaction

COMPSCI 590B** or 690B

Detecting Interference in Networks (cannot do both)

COMPSCI 578

Distributed Computiing & Systems (formerly COMPSCI 590CC Cloud Computing)

COMPSCI  565**

Advanced Digital Forensics (formerly COMPSCI 590K)

COMPSCI 590M**

Introduction to Simulation

COMPSCI 590S**

Systems for Data Science

COMPSCI 528**

Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing (formerly 590U)

COMPSCI 610

Compiler Techniques

COMPSCI 520** or 620

Advanced Software Engineering: Synthesis and Development (cannot do both)

COMPSCI 521** or 621

Advanced Software Engineering: Analysis and Evaluation (cannot do both)

COMPSCI 630

Systems

COMSCI 631

Programming Languages

COMPSCI 535** or 635

Modern Computer Architecture

COMPSCI 645

Database Design and Implementation

COMPSCI 653

Advanced Computer Networking

COMPSCI 655

Performance Evaluation

COMPSCI 660

Advanced Information Assurance

COMPSCI 661

Secure Distributed Systems

COMPSCI 677

Distributed and Operating Systems

COMPSCI 661**

Secure Distributed Systems

COMPSCI 625

Advanced Methods in HCI (formerly COMPSCI 690A)

COMPSCI 585**

Introduction to Natural Language Processing

COMPSCI 589** or 689

Machine Learning

COMPSCI 546**

Applied Information Retrieval (formerly COMPSCI 590R)

COMPSCI 571**

Data Visualization and Exploration (formerly COMPSCI 590V)

COMPSCI 603

Robotics

COMPSCI 646

Information Retrieval

COMPSCI 650

Applied Information Theory

COMPSCI 670

Computer Vision

COMPSCI 682

Neural Networks: Modern Intro

COMPSCI 683

Artificial Intelligence

COMPSCI 687

Reinforcement Learning

COMPSCI 688

Graphical Models

COMPSCI 689

Machine Learning: Pattern Classification

COMPSCI 690D

Deep Learning/Natural Language Processing-no longer offered

COMPSCI 674

Intelligent Visual Computing (formerly COMPSCI 690IV)

COMPSCI 690M

Machine Learning Theory

COMPSCI 685

Advanced Natural Language Processing (formerly COMPSCI 690N)

COMPSCI 690V

Visual Analytics

CMPSCI 686, aka 691E

Reasoning & Acting Under Uncertainty - No longer offered

CMPSCI 691V

Multi-Agent Systems - No longer offered