Certificate for Current UIUC Students

Requirements for the Certificate in Cybersecurity

1. Take 3 classes from the 2 lists below (including one from each list), and earn an average grade of at least a B across the 3 courses.
2. Participate substantially in an approved and related extracurricular activity.
3. Attend at least one ITI Certificate Program meeting each academic year.

Details below:

Requirement 1:

Take 3 classes chosen from the 2 lists below (including at least 1 from each list), and earn an average grade of at least a B across the 3 courses.

• Cybersecurity core courses. At least 1 of the 3 courses must be selected from this list:
  • CS 461/ECE 422: Computer Security I
  • CS 463/ECE 424: Computer Security II
  • CS 407/ECE 407: Cryptography
  • CS 460/ECE 419: Security Laboratory
  • IS 234: Introduction to Risk and Cybersecurity
  • IS 464: Information Assurance
• Cybersecurity application courses. At least 1 of the 3 courses must be selected from this list:
  • BADM 370: Information Security Management  
  • CS 397/ECE 397: Individual Study. To qualify, this course must be taken for at least 3 credit hours, and the project must be cybersecurity-related. To receive credit towards a Certificate, prior to taking the class, you must send a description of your project to iti-cyber-certs@illinois.edu and obtain approval.
  • CS 423: Operating Systems Design
  • CS 424: Real-Time Systems
  • CS 425/ECE 428: Distributed Systems
  • CS 436/ECE 435: Computer Networking Laboratory
  • CS 431: Embedded Systems
  • CS 434/ECE 434: Mobile Computing & Application
  • CS 435: Cloud Networking
  • CS 438/ECE 438: Communication Networks
  • CS 439/ECE 439: Wireless Networks
  • CS 442: Trustworthy Machine Learning
  • ECE 484: Principles of Safe Autonomy
  • ENG 298 CYB: Foundational Technical and Organizational Concepts and Practices in Cybersecurity (see the list of ENG 298 section offerings for current availability information)
  • ENG 498 FSN: Foundations in Secure Networking for Cyber-Social Systems (see the list of ENG 498 section offerings for current availability information)
  • INFO 490 JBG/JBU: "Digital Forensics I," or "Fundamentals of Info Security" (see the list of INFO 490 section offerings for current availability information)
  • IS 401: Introduction to Network Information Systems
  • IS 446: Systems Analysis and Design
  • IS 496 CN3: Computer Networks (see the list of IS 496 section offerings for current availability information)

Requirement 2:

Participate substantially in one of the below extracurricular activities.

• Compete in an approved cybersecurity competition (e.g., HackIllinois or another hackathon or National Cyber League competition).
• Participate for one semester as an undergraduate researcher in the group of a professor who agrees to the arrangement.
• Receive a scholarship from the Illinois Cyber Security Scholars Program (ICSSP) and participate in the program, in good standing, for at least one year.
• Other activities may be used to meet this requirement. (Some examples include doing a cyber-security-related internship, participating substantially in a cybersecurity-related student group such as SIGPwny, or presenting a cybersecurity-related poster or paper at a conference.) Students are encouraged to propose activities that they’d like to use; write to iti-cyber-certs@illinois.edu in advance of the activity to request approval. 

Requirement 3:

While working towards certificate completion, each student must attend at least one ITI Certificate Program Meeting each academic year, unless granted an exemption. The meeting will provide program updates and discuss other UIUC cybersecurity opportunities.

• Every Spring and Fall semester, ITI will host a 1-hour  ITI Certificate Program Meeting.  Participating students must attend at least one of these meetings each academic year.
• Each ITI Certificate Program Meeting will provide a current overview of ITI’s certificate program, including reminders on requirements and announcements of updates, and will inform you about other cybersecurity-related student resources on the UIUC campus (e.g., scholarships, undergraduate research opportunities, conferences, internship opportunities, and student organizations). Time will be budgeted for a question and answer session and discussion.
• If you need to request an exemption to this requirement, write to iti-cyber-certs@illinois.edu to submit the request and explain the reasons.