Minor in Cybersecurity

The Cybersecurity minor is designed to address the increasing demand for skilled professionals in a multi-disciplinary field that is critical to safeguarding organizations, governments, and vital infrastructure from diverse threats. This minor is ideal for students from both technical and non-technical backgrounds, recognizing that a wide range of expertise is essential to effectively tackle today’s cybersecurity challenges.

Through a comprehensive curriculum, the Cybersecurity minor equips students with foundational knowledge in both technical and non-technical aspects of cybersecurity. By integrating this knowledge with their primary fields of study, students will be prepared to make meaningful contributions to their organizations’ cybersecurity strategies.

Declaring the minor

The Cybersecurity minor has no prerequisites, and any undergraduate student—including pre-major students—may declare the minor at any time.

Students pursuing their B.S. in Computer Science & Software Engineering with an option in Information Assurance and Cybersecurity cannot also minor in cybersecurity.

Interested students should contact their major program advisor and a UW Bothell Computer Science and Software Engineering Program advisor to determine the feasibility of pursuing the minor in Cybersecurity.

Program requirements

• At least 15 credits applied to the minor must have been completed at UW Bothell (in-person, online, or hybrid)
• At least 15 of the credits applied to the minor must be at the 300-400 level
• At least 10 credits applied to the minor must be courses from the Division of Computing & Software Systems (i.e., CSS prefix)
• A minimum grade of 2.0 must be earned for each course applied to the minor
• Courses taken Satisfactory / Not Satisfactory will not be counted toward the minor
• At least 10 of the credits completed for this minor must not also simultaneously satisfy a major requirement

Core requirements (17-20 credits)

• Cybersecurity Foundations (CSS 310, INFO 310, or T INFO 310) (5 credits)
• Ethics, Policy, and Law (CSS 211, CSS 315, CSS 411, INFO 351, or TCSS 325) (4-5 credits)
• Networking (CSS 431, CSS 432, T INFO 250, T INFO 451, TCSS 430, TCES 425, CSE 461, or INFO 314) (4-5
  credits)
• Programming (CSS 112, CSS 132, CSS 142, CSE 121, CSE 122, CSE 142, TCSS 141, or TCSS 142) (4-5 credits)

Elective requirements (10-13 credits at the 300-400 level)

Approved electives for the Cybersecurity minor can be completed within the University of Washington tri-campus system.

Some of the courses listed may not be offered on a regular basis and/or may be restricted to
majors and/or have other restrictions associated with them. The listing of these electives does not alter
said frequency of courses being offered or any existing requirements or restrictions.

Bothell

• CSS 320 Digital Forensics (5)
• CSS 337 Secure Systems (5)
• CSS 415 Emerging Topics in Information Assurance and Cybersecurity (1-5)
• CSS 416 Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing (5)
• CSS 436 Cloud Computing (5)
• CSS 477 Foundations of Secure Software Development (5)
• CSS 486 Machine Intelligence (5)
• B BUS 300 Organizational Behavior, Ethics, and Inclusivity (5)
• B BUS 412 Advanced Business Law (5)
• B BUS 458 Risk Modeling (5)
• B BUS 461 Business, Government, and Society (5)
• B BUS 476 New Technology and Future Markets (5)
• BIS 415 Public Policy and Law (5)
• BIS 421 Technology Policy (5)
• BISLEP 301 Law, Economics, and Public Policy (5)
• BISLEP 302 Policy Analysis (5)
• BISSTS 307 Science, Technology, and Society (5)
• BISSTS 355 History of Science and Technology (5)

Seattle

• INFO 312 Enterprise Risk Management (4)
• INFO 415 Emerging Topics in Information Assurance and Cybersecurity (1-5)
• I S 410 Networks and Cybersecurity (4)
• CSE 484 Computer Security (4)
• POL S 370 Privacy (5) / JSIS B 370 (5)
• POL S 410 Technology, Politics, and the State (5)
• POL S 451 Communication Technology and Politics (5) / COM 407 (5)
• POL S 465 Law and Public Policy in the United States (5)
• CFRM 426 FinTech, Blockchains, and Cryptocurrencies (4)

Tacoma

• TCSS 431 Network Security (5)
• TCSS 481 Computer Security (5)
• TCSS 487 Cryptography (5)
• TCES 431 Essentials of VLSI Circuit Testing and Hardware Security (5)
• TCES 461 Hardware for Cryptography (5)
• T INFO 441 Network Security (5)
• T INFO 442 Computer Security (5)
• T INFO 443 Digital Forensics (5)
• T INFO 444 Mobile Digital Forensics I (5)
• T INFO 445 Mobile Digital Forensics II (5)
• T INFO 446 Mobile Digital Forensics III (5)
• T INFO 453 Wireless Networking (5)
• T INFO 461 Organizational Information Assurance (5)
• T INFO 462 Building an Information Risk Management Toolkit (5)
• T INFO 463 Establishing and Managing Information Assurance Strategies (5)
• T INFO 476 Threat Modeling (5)
• TCOM 454 Communications Law (5)
• TCOM 465 Contemporary Free Speech Issues (5)
• TCOM 481 Communication Regulation and Policy (5)
• TPOL S 300 Mass Media and U.S. Politics (5)
• TPOL S 371 The Politics of Security (5)
• TPSYCH 352 Judgment and Decision-Making (5)
• T PHIL 361 Ethics in Society (5)
• TMATH 412 Cryptography: Theory and Practice (5)
• T LAW 363 Law in Society (5)
• T LAW 465 Law and Public Policy in the United States (5)
• TBANLT 450 Decision Modeling (5)
• TBANLT 460 Predictive Analytics (5)
• TBANLT 485 Business Intelligence (5)
• T ACCT 471 Internal Auditing (3)

Registration

Some Computing & Software Systems courses are restricted to students in the major for registration period 1, but become available to all students from registration period 2 onwards. You can contact an academic advisor for assistance with registration.

Petitions

Cybersecurity-related courses that are not included on the elective lists are considered on a case-by-case basis. If you have a syllabus, letter from the instructor, or other detailed description for the class you wish to use as an elective, you may submit a petition to request for the course to count.