The MSIS degree (through the Department of Informatics and Networked Systems) offers a Cybersecurity & Privacy (C&P) concentration (also called a subplan) that prepares students to design, defend, and govern modern information systems by blending technical depth with privacy, policy, and human factors. The curriculum balances technical depth in secure architecture, network security, cryptography, and cloud and application security with privacy engineering, policy, risk, and usability. Through projects, case studies, and lab-based exercises, you will practice threat modeling, build and evaluate controls, align with frameworks (e.g., NIST and ISO), and communicate findings to technical and executive audiences.
To declare a concentration is easy. Before the end of the term in which you will earn 18 credits, simply complete the Graduate Academic Plan Change Form. In the "Current Subplan" section, choose "Security Assured Info Systems."
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION SCIENCE (MSIS) - REQUIRED CORE COURSES
All MSIS students are required to take the following five courses. Students would have to submit a petition to the faculty to waive any required core course.
INFSCI 2150 - Information Security and Privacy
INFSCI 2300 - Human Information Processing
INFSCI 2591 - Algorithm Design
INFSCI 2710 - Database Management
TELCOM 2310 - Applications of Networks
CYBERSECURITY & PRIVACY CONCENTRATION - REQUIRED COURSES
Students in the Cybersecurity & Privacy concentration (a.k.a. subplan) must take the following three required courses:
INFSCI 2160 - Data Mining
INFSCI 2621 - Security Management and Computer Forensics
TELCOM 2821 - Network Security
CYBERSECURITY & PRIVACY CONCENTRATION - ELECTIVE COURSES (TWO REQUIRED)
Students in the Cybersecurity & Privacy concentration must take 2 electives from the following list:
INFSCI 2170 - Cryptography
INFSCI 2430 - Social Computing
INFSCI 2595 - Machine Learning
INFSCI 2750 - Cloud Computing
PIA 2156 - Law, Policy & Technology (awaiting approval)
PIA 2303 - Security and Intelligence Studies (awaiting approval)
PIA 2360 – Cyber Security Policy (awaiting approval)
LAW 5623 - Cyber Policy, Crime & National Security (awaiting approval)
Students can declare "Cybersecurity & Privacy" as their concentration by filling out this Graduate Academic Plan Change Form. In the "Current Subplan" section, choose "Security Assured Info Systems."
Students are strongly encouraged to map out their courses using one of the Plan of Study tabs in this Google Sheet.
Explore C&P Plan of Study Templates
Whether you start in the fall or spring, or plan to finish in three semesters, you’ll find a Plan of Study that fits your timeline. For advice on your plan, contact Prof. Ahmed Ibrahim (aibrahim@pitt.edu) to schedule a meeting and review your course selections.
LERSAIS at the University of Pittsburgh is designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (NCAE-CDE) by CISA and the National Security Agency, and our Cybersecurity & Privacy concentration is the validated Program of Study (PoS).
GRADUATES SPOTLIGHT
Victoria Clarchick
Cybersecurity Engineer, GEICO
As a Cybersecurity Engineer specializing in identity & access management and networking, Victoria’s work sits at the crossroads of people and technology. She helps ensure that every user has secure, reliable access to the systems they need—without compromising the safety of the network. She develops identity access and network policies, implements Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solutions, and supports secure platform integrations. Her work strengthens identity management and network security, providing a solid foundation that keeps systems protected and employees connected.
Krity Kharbanda
Sr. Application Security Engineer, ServiceNow
Krity graduated in December 2022 with a master’s degree in Information Science and joined ServiceNow to work in Application Security. Since then, she has been part of the DevSecOps team and currently serve as a Senior Application Security Engineer. In this role, she is involved in the development, deployment, integration, and scaling of security services that support SAST, DAST, and SCA functions. Krity's work extends across cloud environments, infrastructure, and containerized applications which helps strengthen security automation and ensure seamless integration into CI/CD pipelines. Beyond her core responsibilities, she also contribute to cross-functional security initiatives and help drive a culture of security awareness across the organization.
Jamie O'Sullivan
Software Engineer, Capital One
Since graduating from Pitt's Information Science Master's program, Jamie spent the past three years as a software engineer at Capital One, focusing primarily on backend development while maintaining full-stack responsibilities. He is currently part of a cyber team that designs and maintains encryption key management applications, covering AWS KMS, AWS CloudHSM, and PGP, to provide centralized, standardized, and auditable encryption services for internal development teams. Jamie says "The security knowledge and hands-on experience I gained at Pitt laid the foundation for my career in cybersecurity and continue to shape my work today".
ADMISSION DEADLINES
January 15 of each year for international and July 15 of each year for domestic applicants.
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Notes
The name of this concentration in the official catalog is "Security Assured Information Systems Concentration". It is currently being revised and we are working on changing it in the official catalog to become "Cybersecurity & Privacy Concentration".