An Interdisciplinary Approach to Cybersecurity Curriculum

Current media has many stories of cyberattacks on the global financial system. The system is inter-related and inter-dependent. Attacks on a single institution in one country can have major economic impacts throughout the... [ view full abstract ]

Current media has many stories of cyberattacks on the global financial system. The system is inter-related and inter-dependent. Attacks on a single institution in one country can have major economic impacts throughout the world.
In the United States, a voluntary risk-based Cybersecurity Framework was developed for all industries. The Framework is a set of industry standards and best practices to help organizations manage cybersecurity risks. The Framework was a collaborative effort between government and the private sector. The Framework avoids placing additional regulatory requirements on businesses.
The Framework recognizes that organizations in various industries will continue to have unique risks – different threats, different vulnerabilities, different risk tolerances, and implementation of the best practices set forth in the Framework will vary. The Framework is a living document that is updated and improved as there is feedback on its implementation.
We used the framework to design a curriculum and develop courses for a doctoral program in Cybersecurity. The courses are spread among the areas in the Cybersecurity Framework, and course competencies and learning objectives are derived from specifications in the Framework.
This paper will describe how we plan to bring interdisciplinary aspects into the curriculum, while following the framework. In this paper, we focus on coursework in Accounting and Finance. We also prescribe a series of courses in research for cybersecurity, in which students could focus on Accounting and Finance issues if that is a career path they plan to take.