Guard against digital threats with a cybersecurity degree

This course introduces students to the Franklin University community and provides strategies for successful transition to and participation in that community. Topics include University resources and procedures, strategies for advancing communication skills, the use of electronic tools to participate in virtual environments, and the development of an academic and career plan.

This course prepares students to be successful lifelong learners both academically and in their chosen careers. Franklin courses require a high level of self-directed learning and focus on skills required in the workplace and the classroom that are easily transferable between the two environments. The course includes strategies for advancing communication skills, including the use of electronic tools to participate in virtual environments. The assignments and activities in the course are created to closely simulate teamwork found in the workplace.

By using applied critical and creative thinking, students in this course will develop a set of communication skills that will enhance their personal and professional relationships and endeavors. This course will focus on skill development in key areas such as self, perception, listening, verbal messages, conversations, relationships, conflict management, persuasion, and public speaking.

This public-speaking course emphasizes the fundamentals of extemporaneous speaking. Skill-building activities and assignments focus on research, organization, reasoning, style and delivery of presentations as well as listening and audience engagement.

This is an intermediate course focusing on the composition of research papers. Students in this course prepare to be active participants in professional discourse communities by examining and practicing the writing conventions associated with their own fields of study and work. By calling attention to the conventions of disciplinary writing, the course also prepares students for upper-division college writing and the special conventions of advanced academic discourse. Course activities include three extended research papers, semi-formal writing addressing interdisciplinary communication, and readings fostering critical engagement with disciplinary conversations.

This course introduces the student to statistics with business applications. The course covers both descriptive and inferential statistics. Topics included are: measures of central tendency; measures of dispersion; graphical displays of data; linear regression; basic probability concepts; binomial and normal probability distributions; confidence intervals; and hypothesis testing. These topics will be covered using a basic knowledge of algebra and Microsoft Excel. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

Many organizations today utilize computers and information systems to store, organize, analyze, and summarize data to solve problems. As a result, computing is a tool that can benefit students in many different fields. At the heart of solving problems with computers is the study of structured thinking using algorithms. This course is designed for students with no prior programming experience and teaches the building blocks of algorithms, including variables, expressions, selection and repetition structures, functions and parameters, and array processing. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

This course serves as an introduction to the function, design, administration, and implementation of computer networks. Topics include network infrastructure, architecture, protocols, applications, and the OSI networking model. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

This course covers fundamental concepts necessary for the design, use, implementation and administration of database systems. The course will stress the fundamentals of database modeling and design, the languages and facilities provided by database management systems, and some techniques for implementing and administering database systems. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

The Internet has changed dramatically; so have the activities that are dependent on it in some shape or form. Understanding the need for security, it's influence on people, businesses and society, as well as business drivers is critical. The course also covers malicious attacks, threats and vulnerabilities common to the world of security, as well as access controls, and methods to assess and respond to risks. Hands-on labs accompany the various concepts that are taught.

Networks are the major point of entry to most computer systems. Preventing unwanted intrusion, use, abuse, or flooding of communications channels is a high priority to organizations trying to protect their assets. Network security is about preserving the appropriate use of network resources while preventing disallowed use. In this course, you will learn how to employ firewalls, VPNs, and stateful packet inspection techniques to harden computer networks. Topics include packet filtering, intrusion detection and prevention, ingress and egress rules, monitoring, network access controls, authentication, authorization, and auditing.

This course covers fundamental programming principles for individuals with at least some programming background. Major themes are structured programming, problem solving, algorithm design, top-down stepwise refinement, and software lifecycle. Topics will include testing, data types, operators, repetition and selection control structures, functions, arrays, and objects. Students will design, code, test, debug, and document programs in a relevant programming language. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

This course covers the fundamental concepts necessary for the construction of web pages using the basic building blocks of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (css). HTML and XHTML are covered in detail for building web pages using a web page development environment. The use of styling using css is introduced.

This course introduces the Linux operating system with a focus on the foundational Linux concepts and core tasks of the system administrator. Students will examine numerous commands and tools to maintain and operate Linux systems. This course utilizes hands-on lab exercises to provide students with professional experience.

This course explores the concepts of cloud computing, including financial impacts and business value, financial requirements, deployment, risks, and security. Hands-on exercises help students to gain experience with cloud computing environments, identifying technical and security requirements for given deployment scenarios, implementing the proposed cloud deployment scenario, and troubleshooting technical issues of existing cloud computing scenarios.

The prevalence of data breaches, identity theft, and the dark net today makes the study of digital forensics and cybercrime highly relevant to information security. Identifying, acquiring, preserving, analyzing and reporting evidence to business and law enforcement is a much-needed skill. This course will cover those topics as well as the live versus dead-box techniques, appropriate legal and regulatory issues, open source and commercial tools, and the special challenges represented by new and emerging technologies. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

Ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of large and complex systems is notoriously difficult in the face of capable and determined opponents. This course discusses security engineering as the practical application of requirements analysis, modeling, architecture, processes, and measurement toward improving the dependability of complex information systems throughout their lifecycle. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

The Information Security Capstone course encourages teamwork in small groups on a substantial project. The intent of this course is to provide a capstone experience that integrates the material contained in courses required of the information security major. It also provides an opportunity for students to recognize and evaluate the interrelationship of their general education courses with the courses taken for their information security major. The major areas of the program are reviewed and assessed via standardized exams. Students will also culminate their experiences with an overview of the evolution of computer systems and a look at the near-term future. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

This course provides the student with an introduction to Windows Server administration and is structured to assist a network manager or planner in planning, configuring, installing, running, and repairing networks that include a Windows Server. As such, it provides an introduction to server installation, Active Directory, printer management, domains, network clients, security, disaster recovery, fault/error management, and scripting of common tasks. This course uses cloud based software to provide the Windows Server operating system environment. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

This course provides a conceptual survey of general systems theory followed by a conceptual and technological survey of the structure of distributed information systems architectures, operating systems, network operating systems, peripheral technology and user interfaces. Interoperability between these architectural components will be explored and current technology and trends in each architectural element will be reviewed. This course will de-emphasize, although not ignore, mainframe architectures in favor of information architectures more applicable to client/server computing. The various interacting categories of client/server computing as well as the benefits and implications of such a system will be fully explored. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

This course builds web applications by employing server-side scripts that query relational databases. The student learns and reflects on two- and three-tier software architectures, separation of responsibility, model-view-controller pattern, basic security, and web frameworks. The student will design, code, test, debug, and document programs using a server-based scripting language. Note: This is a technology course in a technology program, and it requires the purchase of software that may be used in subsequent courses as well as being suitable for commercial work beyond completion of degree studies. For specific software requirements, consult the course syllabus. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

In a highly connected, data intensive, and cost-focused business environment, the practice of information security not a business advantage; it is a customer requirement. Viruses, malware, trojans, denial of service attacks, phishing, and even Wiki leaks have become headline news. Failure to insure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data costs companies millions, if not billions of dollars in legal settlements, lost business, and trade secrets. In this breadth-based course, you will get an overview of information security principles and practices, including security models, risk management, access controls, intrusion detection and prevention, cryptography, software vulnerabilities, and ethical issues. Subsequent courses expand on this foundational material in much greater depth. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

This course covers the fundamentals of security in the enterprise environment. Included are coverage of risks and vulnerabilities, threat modeling, policy formation, controls and protection methods, encryption and authentication technologies, network security, cryptography, personnel and physical security issues, as well as ethical and legal issues. This foundational course serves as an introduction to many of the subsequent topics discussed in depth in later security courses. Note, this course has proctored exam(s). This exam requires additional technology, if student uses online proctoring.

Software vulnerabilities, especially those that compromise personal or financial data, are appallingly common. Nearly every major software company has needed to deal with the fallout of a major incident due to vulnerabilities in their products. Writing correct - let alone secure - software is very difficult. Yet users and executives expect it. In this course, you will learn about the typical development mistakes that lead to application-level security issues as well as how to defend against them. Students will explore the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) top 10 security vulnerabilities. Topics include unchecked user input, injection, fuzzing, CSRF, XSS, cryptography, CAPTCHA, configuration errors, authentication, and authorization. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).

Today, software is at the heart of nearly every business from finance to manufacturing. Software pervades everyday life in expected places like phones and computers but also in places that you may not consider such as toasters, thermostats, automobiles, and even light bulbs. Security flaws in software can have impacts ranging from inconvenient to damaging and even catastrophic when it involves life-critical systems. How can software be designed and built to minimize the presence of flaws or mitigate their impacts? This course focuses on software development processes that identify, model, and mitigate threats to all kinds of software. Topics include threat modeling frameworks, attack trees, attack libraries, defensive tactics, secure software development lifecycle, web, cloud, and human factors.

Proper assessment, management, and mitigation of risk are essential to any information security strategy. Risks aren't just related to IT assets, but to the overall business that the IT organization is supporting, thus, business continuity planning and impact analysis is also important. In this course, you will learn how to identify and analyze risks, determine impacts, and develop plans to mitigate issues. Topics include threats, vulnerabilities, exploits, and countermeasures; US compliance laws; risk assessment and mitigation; business impact analysis; and business continuity and disaster recovery planning.

When audits, technology, or compliance become the driver for security initiatives the resulting program is strategically fragmented, reactive, and rigid. Moreover, there are few, if any, assurances that the biggest threats are being addressed. On the other hand, risk assessment places values on assets, evaluates the current controls, and provides data to improve the protection in a controlled, proactive, and flexible manner. This course teaches an approach to security that combines operational security, risk assessment, test and review and mitigation such that value can be demonstrated. A project-based approach to risk assessment is followed including, project definition and preparation, data gathering, technical information, physical data gathering, analysis, mitigation, recommendations, and reporting. Note, this course has proctored exam(s).