Graduate Engineering Curriculum
Engineering graduate students in the ICSSP program need to be pursuing an on-campus Master’s or Ph.D. program in the area of cyber security. ICSSP Graduate scholars must complete their graduate program degree requirements and the following ICSSP coursework requirements listed below. Course requirements are subject to change. NOTE: Scholars who are in a 5-year BS-MS program must follow the graduate-level ICSSP scholar requirements.
NOTE: All grades in all ICSSP coursework must be a “B” or higher.
Ethics Requirement
Scholars must complete the online Ethics Training during their first semester in the program, and prior to beginning any research projects.
Required Security Courses
- CS 461/ECE 422 (Computer Security I) and/or CS 463/ECE 424 (Computer Security II); students who have already taken these courses (i.e., as undergraduates), or show that they took equivalent courses at another institution, should instead take any sequence of 2 security-related courses chosen from one of the below Concentration Areas (or other courses as approved by the ICSSP advisor).
- CS 563/ECE 524 – Advanced Computer Security
- CS 491 – Information Assurance & Trust Seminar (must register for this each semester)
Concentration Courses Related to Computer Security
All Engineering ICSSP graduate students must complete at least one sequence of two courses chosen from one of the Concentration Areas listed below. Students who start their graduate work having already taken CS 461/ECE 422 (Computer Security I) and CS 463/ECE 424 (Computer Security II) should choose TWO sequences (of two courses each) chosen from the below options. Other courses may be substituted with ICSSP adviser permission. (A list of security-related courses at UIUC is available online.)
- Applied Cryptography:
- CS 498 AM1 & AM3, and ECE 498 AC3 & AC4 (Applied Cryptography)
- CS/ECE 598 AM: Cryptocurrency Security
- CS 598 CLF: Secure Processor Design and Foundations in Applied Cryptography
- CS 598 DK: Special Topics in Cryptography
- Human Aspects of Security:
- CS 465: User Interface Design
- IS 464: Information Assurance
- CS 498 CD: Cyber Dystopia
- Machine Learning and AI:
- CS 446: Machine Learning
- CS 598 BL: Adversarial Machine Learning
- CS 498 SM: Principles of Safe Autonomy
- Privacy:
- IS 584 PVO: Privacy in the Internet Age
- CS/ECE 598 NB: Privacy Enhancing Technologies
- Cyberinfrastructures:
- CS 598 AB: Computer Security in the Physical World
- ECE 498 KL: eCrime and Internet Service Abuse
- Secure Software:
- CS 598 TXU: Reliability of Cloud-Scale Systems
- CS 598 TXU: Reliable Software Systems
- Approved Track: Students may work with Professor Bashir and the ICSSP leadership team to create an approved concentration area.
Thesis in the Area of Security (only for M.S. students in CS and ECE)
Thesis must be in the area of information assurance or cyber security, and can be completed with any of the courses listed below.
- CS 597 – Independent Study
- CS 599 – Thesis Research
- ECE 597 – Independent Study
- ECE 599 – Thesis Research
Additional Coursework in the Area of Security (only for M.C.S. students in CS, and M.Eng. students in ECE)
For professional Master’s students, the thesis requirement is replaced with additional coursework to explore technical areas related to security. E.g., courses may include CS 511 (Advanced Concepts in Database Management), CS 523 (Advanced Concepts in OS Design and Recent Research Directions), CS 527 (Topics in Software Engineering), and/or CS 538 (Advanced Computer Networks).
Summer Internship
Complete a summer internship in a government organization, such as a National Laboratory, the National Security Agency, the Department of Defense, the National Standards Institute, or a computing facility (only for participants who are awarded a two- or three-year scholarship). CS/ECE 597 or ENG 572 can be used by grad students, 3 hours.
Summary
| CS M.S. Degree, ICSSP Requirements | CS M.C.S. Degree, ICSSP Requirements | CE M.S. Degree, ICSSP Requirements | M.Eng. Degree (ECE), ICSSP Requirements |
| Total degree credits: 32 hours; Coursework: 28 hours; Students must complete 9–12 hours core CS classes & 12 hours advanced 500-level CS courses. (see CS M.S. degree requirements) | Total degree credits: 32 hours; Coursework: 32 hours; Students must complete 12–16 hours core CS classes, 12 hours advanced 500-level CS courses, & 4–8 hours electives. (see CS M.C.S. degree requirements) | Total degree credits: 32 hours; Coursework: 28 hours; Students must complete 20 hours of core ECE courses. (see CE M.S. degree requirements) | Total degree credits: 32 hours; Coursework: 32 hours; includes 8 hours ECE 500-level courses & 4 hours non-ECE 500-level courses; 4 hours professional development; & 8-10 hours non-ECE electives (see ECE M.Eng. degree requirements) |
16 hours of technical elective courses:
Gov’t internship, ENG 597 |
16 hours of technical elective courses:
Gov’t internship, ENG 572 |
16 hours of technical elective courses:
Gov’t internship, ENG 597 |
16 hours of technical elective courses:
Gov’t internship, ENG 572 |
| 4-7 hours of free electives chosen from UIUC security-related courses and including CS 491 | 4-8 hours of free electives chosen from UIUC security-related courses and including CS 491 | 12 hrs, 400-500-level electives chosen from UIUC security-related courses and including CS 491 | 8-10 hours of electives chosen from UIUC security-related courses and including CS 491 |
| Thesis credit (CS 599) with CS ICSSP Advisor approval | Thesis credit (ECE599) with ECE ICSSP Advisor approval | Master’s project (ECE 596) with ECE ICSSP Advisor approval |
If you have any questions regarding curriculum requirements, please email iti-icssp-info@illinois.edu.