The biggest fear businesses often have is of losing important data from their customers and industry.
In 2013, Yahoo was a victim of a data breach when hackers claimed the information of nearly 3 million Yahoo users. Due to this breach, Yahoo has since lost customers and its credibility as a business.
The computer science program at Winthrop changes their elective courses every two to three years to keep up with rapidly changing technology and to prepare students for real life issues, like data breaches, in business.
The program is now shifting their focus towards offering more Information Technology Security classes to ensure their students are prepared for the computer science realm. They are doing so in order to make students more desirable and valuable to companies.
Electives are made based on faculty expertise as well as their desire for what they want to teach. Along with this, the program talks to an advisory board made up of alumni, employers, representatives from Microsoft and software company consultors.
“[We meet with them] to figure out what they think about our program and they always give us suggestions.” Stephen Dannelly, chair of the computer science program said. “We’ve discontinued several electives courses that were relevant 10 years ago that employers don’t ask about them anymore. Things we see more and more is [ITS and that] grabs our attention and we create courses for it.”
Because of the rapidly changing field of computers, security is now a point of focus in the world of the internet and it is important for students majoring in computer science to learn about it.
“So computer science is one of the fastest growing fields around now and its important to update what students learn. Technology is constantly changing, it doubles every two years and advancements happen rapidly and that requires changes in study,” Matthew Hoshauer, a computer science major, said. “Especially in cybersecurity, internet privacy is something that is valuable. It’s important to know because as the world is moving in the direction of computer and it has become more relevant in our everyday lives. That requires for us to understand why our privacy is important and how that interconnects with computer science.”
Along with ITS elective courses being added, there have also been classes in mobile and website development added to help students evolve their skills.
Due to the shift towards a focus on security, the computer science department is now looking at eventually adding security as a major of its own.
“The degree will be beneficial to a lot of different people. The neat thing about this is it isn’t a zero sum game where for one person to win, another has to lose,” Andrew Besmer, a professor of computer science, said. “Efforts like this can be wins for everyone all the way around. The country desperately needs cybersecurity workers, students are seeking gainful employment, and society benefits from having a more secure infrastructure to work on top of.”
The potential new major is still up in the air as of right now.
“Nothing is certain yet, we are in the curriculum development phase where we identify the courses, infrastructure, and other needs we would have to satisfy in order to offer the degree,” Besmer said. “The degree also has to go through many, many, approval channels before it can come to fruition. That said, because cyber security is my passion, it’s an easy thing to work on.”
Graphic: Elizabeth Talbert/ The Johnsonian
