Cybersecurity, M.S.

You need a superior undergraduate record from an accredited institution in order to be considered for entrance into the program. Preferably, you should have an undergraduate degree in computer science, mathematics, science, or engineering. However, applicants with degrees in other fields are considered individually for admission. You must also satisfy the following:

• Knowledge of mathematics through calculus
• At least 1 year of university-level science
• A working knowledge of a high-level, general-purpose programming language (preferably C++) and of data structures
• Demonstrated ability to communicate in written and spoken English. Foreign students and others for whom English is a second language may be required to undertake preparatory work to improve their language skills before admission into the graduate program.
• Statement of Purpose: You should submit a special purpose statement with your application that states your experience in cybersecurity and your motivation for applying to the program.
• A basic understanding of computer fundamentals such as computer organization and operation, data structures, and computer architecture.
• GRE scores

Admission with advanced standing is accepted in accordance with the School of Engineering regulations published in the bulletin. A maximum of 9 credits may be applied to the MS degree from previous graduate work at an acceptable institution.

Find out more about Admission Requirements.

Applicants who satisfy one of the following conditions are not required but encouraged to submit a GRE score:

1. MS Applicants without a Cybersecurity degree or similar background who successfully complete the NYU Tandon Bridge program.
2. Applicant completes 9 credits under Visiting Student Registration from an approved list of CSE courses and maintains an average grade of B+ or better.
3. Applicant has a BA or BS degree in computer science or computer engineering from NYU, with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.

NYU Tandon's NYU Cyber Fellows program is an affordable part-time online MS in Cybersecurity in partnership with New York City Cyber Command, with a curriculum designed in cooperation with elite corporate partners. It offers scholarships of as much as 75 percent of tuition to U.S. residents.

For more details visit NYU Cyber Fellowship

Applications for transfer credits must be submitted for consideration before the end of the first semester of matriculation. Courses with grades below B are not eligible for transfer. Transfer credits for courses taken after matriculation at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering are rarely accepted and must be approved by the student’s academic department and by the Office of Graduate Academics before the course is taken. Grades for transferred credits or courses are not recorded and are not included in GPA calculations.

Qualified MS students registered in other the School of Engineering master's programs (e.g., the Computer Science master's program), who can demonstrate adequate skills in the area of cybersecurity, may be permitted to transfer to the MS in Cybersecurity program per the admissions requirements outlined on this page.

We offer 3 preparatory bridge courses for students who do not have a working knowledge of a high level, general-purpose programming language or a background in sets, functions, relations, asymptotic notation, proof techniques, induction, combinatorics, discrete probability, recurrences, graphs, trees, mathematical models of computation and undecidability.

3 Credits Introduction to Programming and Problem Solving CS-GY 5303

This course introduces discrete mathematics, computers and programming; Running C/C++ programs under Unix; algorithmic language; pseudo code; problem solving and program structure. Topics include constants, variable, data types, assignments, arithmetic expressions, input and output; object-oriented and top-down design and procedures, selection and loops; functions; enumerated; arrays, structs and searching and sorting.
Prerequisite: Graduate status: *Online version available.

3 Credits Data Structures and Algorithms CS-GY 5403

This course introduces data structures. Topics include program specifications and design; abstract data types; stacks, queues; dynamic storage allocation; sequential and linked implementation of stacks and queues; searching methods, sequential and binary; binary trees and general trees; hashing; computational complexity; sorting algorithms: selection sort, heap sort, mergesort and quicksort; comparison of sorting techniques and analysis.
Prerequisite: Graduate Standing, CS-GY 5303 *Online version available.

3 Credits Foundations of Computer Science CS-GY 6003

This course covers logic, sets, functions, relations, asymptotic notation, proof techniques, induction, combinatorics, discrete probability, recurrences, graphs, trees, mathematical models of computation and undecidability.
Corequisite: Graduate Standing.

The 100% online NYU Tandon Bridge course prepares students without a Cybersecurity degree or other related experience to apply for select NYU Tandon Master’s Degree programs. In the course, students will learn computer science fundamentals and programming with C++. Students’ performance in the Bridge will count toward their Master’s degree application decisions. The Bridge is a non-credit certificate course, and those who complete the Bridge with a final grade of C or above will earn a Certificate of Completion, and those who earn a B+ or above will receive a Certificate of Completion with Distinction. Note: regardless of performance, successful completion of the Bridge course does not guarantee admission to any academic program. 

The NYU Tandon Bridge course is taught by faculty members of the Computer Science department at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, aided by NYU Tandon Graduate student teaching assistants. Students will participate in interactive online modules, live webinars, assignments, and tests.

NYU Tandon Bridge

3 Credits Introduction to Operating Systems CS-GY 6233

This course introduces basic issues in operating systems. Topics: Threads, processes, concurrency, memory management, I/O Control and case studies.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Computer Networking CS-GY 6843

This course takes a top-down approach to computer networking. After an overview of computer networks and the Internet, the course covers the application layer, transport layer, network layer and link layers. Topics at the application layer include client-server architectures, P2P architectures, DNS and HTTP and Web applications. Topics at the transport layer include multiplexing, connectionless transport and UDP, principles or reliable data transfer, connection-oriented transport and TCP and TCP congestion control. Topics at the network layer include forwarding, router architecture, the IP protocol and routing protocols including OSPF and BGP. Topics at the link layer include multiple-access protocols, ALOHA, CSMA/CD, Ethernet, CSMA/CA, wireless 802.11 networks and linklayer switches. The course includes simple quantitative delay and throughput modeling, socket programming and network application development and Ethereal labs.
Knowledge of Python and/or C. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Design and Analysis of Algorithms I CS-GY 6033

This course reviews basic data structures and mathematical tools. Topics: Data structures, priority queues, binary search trees, balanced search trees. Btrees. Algorithm design and analysis techniques illustrated in searching and sorting: heapsort, quicksort, sorting in linear time, medians and order statistics. Design and analysis techniques: dynamic programming, greedy algorithms. Graph algorithms: elementary graph algorithms (breadth first search, depth first search, topological sort, connected components, strongly connected components), minimum spanning tree, shortest path. String algorithms. Geometric algorithms. Linear programming. Brief introduction to NP completeness.
Knowledge of Discrete Math equivalent to CS-GY 6003, and knowledge of Fundamental Data Structures. Prerequisites: Graduate Standing

3 Credits Principles of Database Systems CS-GY 6083

This course broadly introduces database systems, including the relational data model, query languages, database design, index and file structures, query processing and optimization, concurrency and recovery, transaction management and database design. Students acquire hands-on experience in working with database systems and in building web-accessible database applications.
Knowledge of basic data structures and algorithms (search trees, hash tables, sorting and searching). Knowledge of principles of operating systems and of the client-server architecture. Basic familiarity with the UNIX operating systems. Programming proficiency. Prerequisites: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Machine Learning CS-GY 6923

This course is an introduction to the field of machine learning, covering fundamental techniques for classification, regression, dimensionality reduction, clustering, and model selection. A broad range of algorithms will be covered, such as linear and logistic regression, neural networks, deep learning, support vector machines, tree-based methods, expectation maximization, and principal components analysis. The course will include hands-on exercises with real data from different application areas (e.g. text, audio, images). Students will learn to train and validate machine learning models and analyze their performance.
Knowledge of undergraduate level probability and statistics, linear algebra, and multi-variable calculus. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Foundations of Computer Science CS-GY 6003

This course covers logic, sets, functions, relations, asymptotic notation, proof techniques, induction, combinatorics, discrete probability, recurrences, graphs, trees, mathematical models of computation and undecidability.
Corequisite: Graduate Standing.

   Other CS electives approved by Advisor.

Any of the courses above may be replaced if you have taken a similar class.

3 Credits Information, Security and Privacy CS-GY 6813

This course introduces Information Systems Security and covers cryptography, capability and access control mechanisms, authentication models, security models, operating systems security, malicious code, security-policy formation and enforcement, vulnerability analysis, evaluating secure systems.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing. *Online version available.

3 Credits Network Security CS-GY 6823

This course begins by covering attacks and threats in computer networks, including network mapping, port scanning, sniffing, DoS, DDoS, reflection attacks, attacks on DNS and leveraging P2P deployments for attacks. The course continues with cryptography topics most relevant to secure networking protocols. Topics covered are block ciphers, stream ciphers, public key cryptography, RSA, Diffie Hellman, certification authorities, digital signatures and message integrity. After surveying basic cryptographic techniques, the course examines several secure networking protocols, including PGP, SSL, IPsec and wireless security protocols. The course examines operational security, including firewalls and intrusion-detection systems. Students read recent research papers on network security and participate in an important lab component that includes packet sniffing, network mapping, firewalls, SSL and IPsec.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing. * Online version available.

3 Credits Applied Cryptography CS-GY 6903

This course examines Modern Cryptography from a both theoretical and applied perspective, with emphasis on ?provable security? and ?application case studies?. The course looks particularly at cryptographic primitives that are building blocks of various cryptographic applications. The course studies notions of security for a given cryptographic primitive, its various constructions and respective security analysis based on the security notion. The cryptographic primitives covered include pseudorandom functions, symmetric encryption (block ciphers), hash functions and random oracles, message authentication codes, asymmetric encryption, digital signatures and authenticated key exchange. The course covers how to build provably secure cryptographic protocols (e.g., secure message transmission, identification schemes, secure function evaluation, etc.), and various number-theoretic assumptions upon which cryptography is based. Also covered: implementation issues (e.g., key lengths, key management, standards, etc.) and, as application case studies, a number of real-life scenarios currently using solutions from modern cryptography.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Application Security CS-GY 9163

This course addresses the design and implementation of secure applications. Concentration is on writing software programs that make it difficult for intruders to exploit security holes. The course emphasizes writing secure distributed programs in Java. The security ramifications of class, field and method visibility are emphasized.
Knowledge of Information, Security and Privacy equivalent to CS-GY 6813. Prerequisite: Graduate standing

Most of the required security core courses above have a project component.

You may choose security-related courses from the School of Engineering or from New York University, including courses in the psychology, law, and sociology departments. Selected courses must be approved by the Program Committee. All the following courses have been preapproved; others must be approved by the Program Committee.

3 Credits Design and Analysis of Algorithms II CS-GY 6043

This course covers techniques in advanced design and analysis. Topics: Amortized analysis of algorithms. Advanced data structures: binomial heaps, Fibonacci heaps, data structures for disjoint sets, analysis of union by rank with path compression. Graph algorithms: elementary graph algorithms, maximum flow, matching algorithms. Randomized algorithms. Theory of NPcompleteness and approach to finding (approximate) solutions to NPcomplete problems. Selected additional topics that may vary.
Knowledge of algorithms and data structures equivalent to CS-GY 6033. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Software Engineering I CS-GY 6063

The course emphasizes the full software-engineering approach with alternative approaches. Technical emphasis is on requirements, design, development and modeling. Management issues include software cost estimating and project management. Understanding the processes applicable to the software development/integration cycle and maintenance along with technology changes on quality and development activities is highlighted.
Solid ability to program in Python. Some familiarity with Django is helpful. Please note: The course will not teach how to program in Python. The students are required to be able to do so already. Experience using version control systems (git in particular) is important. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Computer Architecture I CS-GY 6133

Computer architecture design: Instruction set design techniques, performance and cost; Extensions to traditional instruction sets. An instruction set studied in detail. Processor implementations: Unpipelined execution and its improvement by means of pipelining. Advanced pipelining, including branch prediction, out-of-order execution and superscalar execution, is introduced. Alternatives to traditional computing, such as VLIW and vector computation are described. Improving computer capacity, by improving the memory hierarchy is studied, including advanced cache memory, main memory and virtual memory implementations. An introduction to high-performance computing, including multi-core processors.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing and Knowledge of Computer Architecture and Organization equivalent to CS-UY 2214.

3 Credits Information Visualization CS-GY 6313

An introductory course on Information Visualization based on a modern and cohesive view of the area. Topics include visualization design, data principles, visual encoding principles, interaction principles, single/multiple view methods, item/attribute, attribute reduction methods, toolkits, and evaluation. Overviews and examples from state-of-the-art research will be provided. The course is designed as a first course in information visualization for students both intending to specialize in visualization as well as students who are interested in understanding and applying visualization principles and existing techniques.
Prerequisite: Graduate Standing.

3 Credits Big Data CS-GY 6513

Big Data requires the storage, organization, and processing of data at a scale and efficiency that go well beyond the capabilities of conventional information technologies. In this course, we will study the state of art in big data management: we will learn about algorithms, techniques and tools needed to support big data processing. In addition, we will examine real applications that require massive data analysis and how they can be implemented on Big Data platforms. The course will consist of lectures based both on textbook material and scientific papers. It will include programming assignments that will provide students with hands-on experience on building data-intensive applications using existing Big Data platforms, including Amazon AWS. Besides lectures given by the instructor, we will also have guest lectures by experts in some of the topics we will cover. Students should have experience in programming: Java, C, C++, Python, or similar languages, equivalent to two introductory courses in programming, such as ?Introduction to Programming? and ?Data Structures and Algorithms.
Knowledge of Python. Prerequisite: Graduate Standing.

3 Credits Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Analysis CS-GY 6573

This advanced course in computer and network security focuses on penetration testing and vulnerability analysis. It introduces methodologies, techniques and tools to analyze and identify vulnerabilities in stand-alone and networked applications.
Knowledge of Network Security equivalent to CS-GY 6823. Prerequisites: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Artificial Intelligence I CS-GY 6613

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an important topic in computer science and offers many diversified applications. It addresses one of the ultimate puzzles humans are trying to solve: How is it possible for a slow, tiny brain, whether biological or electronic, to perceive, understand, predict and manipulate a world far larger and more complicated than itself? And how do people create a machine (or computer) with those properties? To that end, AI researchers try to understand how seeing, learning, remembering and reasoning can, or should, be done. This course introduces students to the many AI concepts and techniques.
Knowledge of Data Structures and Algorithms. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Information Systems Security Engineering and Management CS-GY 6803

This course presents a system and management view of information security: what it is, what drives the requirements for information security, how to integrate it into the systems-design process and life-cycle security management of information systems. A second goal is to cover basic federal policies on government information security and methodologies. Topics include information-security risk management, security policies, security in the systems-engineering process, laws related to information security and management of operational systems.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing. *Online version available.

3 Credits Digital Forensics CS-GY 6963

This course introduces information-technology professionals to the application of forensic science principles and practices for collecting, preserving, examining, analyzing and presenting digital evidence. The course includes selected topics from the legal, forensic and information-technology domains and uses lecture, laboratory and written projects to illustrate these topics.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing. *Online version available.

3 Credits Biometrics CS-GY 9093

The course concentrates on the unique advantages that biometrics brings to computer security. The course also addresses such challenging issues as security strength, recognition rates and privacy, as well as alternatives of passwords and smart cards. Students gain knowledge in the building blocks of this field: image and signal processing, pattern recognition, security and privacy and secure system design. By the end of the course students are able to evaluate and design security systems that include biometrics.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing. *Online version available.

3 Credits Selected Topics in CS CS-GY 9223

3 Credits Advanced Project in Computer Science CS-GY 9963

This course permits the student to perform research in computer science with a narrower scope than a master's thesis. Acceptance of a student by a faculty adviser is required before registration. A project report and an oral examination on it are required.
Prerequisite: Graduate status.

One goal of the MS program in Cybersecurity is to introduce students to the exciting research in the area of cybersecurity, and lure some of them into pursuing a PhD degree. To this end, we offer a semester-long advanced project (CS-GY 9963) in the area of cybersecurity as an electve. If you choose this option you will work under the guidance of a research professor and gain invaluable research experience.

In addition to the above semester-long research experience, the program also offers research-oriented MS students to take up the master's thesis option. If you select this option, you will need to take 6 credits of CS-GY 9973 working with a faculty advisor on some research problem in cybersecurity in lieu of 2 out of the 3 required electives.

The research need not be original, but should adequately demonstrate your proficiency in the subject material. An oral defense of the master's thesis with at least 3 professors in attendance is required. The 6 credits of master's thesis must span over a period of exactly 2 consecutive semesters. Whenever relevant, 3.00 credits of CS-GY 9963 may be used as 3.00 credits of CS-GY 9973, subject to the approval of your faculty adviser(s).

3 Credits Introduction to Operating Systems CS-GY 6233

This course introduces basic issues in operating systems. Topics: Threads, processes, concurrency, memory management, I/O Control and case studies.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Analysis CS-GY 6573

This advanced course in computer and network security focuses on penetration testing and vulnerability analysis. It introduces methodologies, techniques and tools to analyze and identify vulnerabilities in stand-alone and networked applications.
Knowledge of Network Security equivalent to CS-GY 6823. Prerequisites: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Computer Networking CS-GY 6843

This course takes a top-down approach to computer networking. After an overview of computer networks and the Internet, the course covers the application layer, transport layer, network layer and link layers. Topics at the application layer include client-server architectures, P2P architectures, DNS and HTTP and Web applications. Topics at the transport layer include multiplexing, connectionless transport and UDP, principles or reliable data transfer, connection-oriented transport and TCP and TCP congestion control. Topics at the network layer include forwarding, router architecture, the IP protocol and routing protocols including OSPF and BGP. Topics at the link layer include multiple-access protocols, ALOHA, CSMA/CD, Ethernet, CSMA/CA, wireless 802.11 networks and linklayer switches. The course includes simple quantitative delay and throughput modeling, socket programming and network application development and Ethereal labs.
Knowledge of Python and/or C. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Computer Networking CS-GY 6843

This course takes a top-down approach to computer networking. After an overview of computer networks and the Internet, the course covers the application layer, transport layer, network layer and link layers. Topics at the application layer include client-server architectures, P2P architectures, DNS and HTTP and Web applications. Topics at the transport layer include multiplexing, connectionless transport and UDP, principles or reliable data transfer, connection-oriented transport and TCP and TCP congestion control. Topics at the network layer include forwarding, router architecture, the IP protocol and routing protocols including OSPF and BGP. Topics at the link layer include multiple-access protocols, ALOHA, CSMA/CD, Ethernet, CSMA/CA, wireless 802.11 networks and linklayer switches. The course includes simple quantitative delay and throughput modeling, socket programming and network application development and Ethereal labs.
Knowledge of Python and/or C. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Information, Security and Privacy CS-GY 6813

This course introduces Information Systems Security and covers cryptography, capability and access control mechanisms, authentication models, security models, operating systems security, malicious code, security-policy formation and enforcement, vulnerability analysis, evaluating secure systems.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing. *Online version available.

3 Credits Network Security CS-GY 6823

This course begins by covering attacks and threats in computer networks, including network mapping, port scanning, sniffing, DoS, DDoS, reflection attacks, attacks on DNS and leveraging P2P deployments for attacks. The course continues with cryptography topics most relevant to secure networking protocols. Topics covered are block ciphers, stream ciphers, public key cryptography, RSA, Diffie Hellman, certification authorities, digital signatures and message integrity. After surveying basic cryptographic techniques, the course examines several secure networking protocols, including PGP, SSL, IPsec and wireless security protocols. The course examines operational security, including firewalls and intrusion-detection systems. Students read recent research papers on network security and participate in an important lab component that includes packet sniffing, network mapping, firewalls, SSL and IPsec.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing. * Online version available.

3 Credits Applied Cryptography CS-GY 6903

This course examines Modern Cryptography from a both theoretical and applied perspective, with emphasis on ?provable security? and ?application case studies?. The course looks particularly at cryptographic primitives that are building blocks of various cryptographic applications. The course studies notions of security for a given cryptographic primitive, its various constructions and respective security analysis based on the security notion. The cryptographic primitives covered include pseudorandom functions, symmetric encryption (block ciphers), hash functions and random oracles, message authentication codes, asymmetric encryption, digital signatures and authenticated key exchange. The course covers how to build provably secure cryptographic protocols (e.g., secure message transmission, identification schemes, secure function evaluation, etc.), and various number-theoretic assumptions upon which cryptography is based. Also covered: implementation issues (e.g., key lengths, key management, standards, etc.) and, as application case studies, a number of real-life scenarios currently using solutions from modern cryptography.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Application Security CS-GY 9163

This course addresses the design and implementation of secure applications. Concentration is on writing software programs that make it difficult for intruders to exploit security holes. The course emphasizes writing secure distributed programs in Java. The security ramifications of class, field and method visibility are emphasized.
Knowledge of Information, Security and Privacy equivalent to CS-GY 6813. Prerequisite: Graduate standing

3 Credits Introduction to Operating Systems CS-GY 6233

This course introduces basic issues in operating systems. Topics: Threads, processes, concurrency, memory management, I/O Control and case studies.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.

3 Credits Information Systems Security Engineering and Management CS-GY 6803

This course presents a system and management view of information security: what it is, what drives the requirements for information security, how to integrate it into the systems-design process and life-cycle security management of information systems. A second goal is to cover basic federal policies on government information security and methodologies. Topics include information-security risk management, security policies, security in the systems-engineering process, laws related to information security and management of operational systems.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing. *Online version available.

   Mobile Security CS-GY9223                                                 3 Credits

   Offensive Security CS-GY9223                                            3 Credits

   Digital Forensics CS-GY6963*                                             3 Credits

   Cloud Security CS-GY9223*                                                3 Credits

   Operational Technology Security CS-GY9223*                  3 Credits

* Optionally completed to meet program requirements