Empirical Evidence for a Descriptive Model of Principles of Information Security Course

The purpose of this study is to examine the nature and content of the rapidly evolving undergraduate Principles of Information/Cybersecurity course which has been attracting an ever-growing attention in the computing discipline, for the past decade. More specifically, it is to provide an impetus for the design of standardized principles of Information/Cybersecurity course. To achieve this, a survey of colleges and universities that offer the course was conducted. Several schools of engineering and business, in universities and colleges across several countries were surveyed to generate necessary data. Effort was made to direct the questionnaire only to Computer Information System (CIS), Computer Science (CS), Management Information System (MIS), Information System (IS) and other computer-related departments. The study instrument consisted of two main parts: one part addressed the institutional demographic information, while the other focused on the relevant elements of the course. There are sixty-two (62) questionnaire items covering areas such as demographics, perception of the course, course content and coverage, teaching preferences, method of delivery and course technology deployed, assigned textbooks and associated resources, learner support, course assessments, as well as the licensure-based certifications. Several themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) the principles course is an integral part of most cybersecurity programs; (b) majority of the courses examined, stress both strong technical and hands-on skills; (c) encourage vendor-neutral certifications as a course exit characteristic; and (d) an end-of-course class project, remains a standard requirement for successful course completion. Overall, the study makes it clear that cybersecurity is a multilateral discipline, and refuses to be confined by context and content. It is envisaged that the results of this study would turn out to be instructive for all practical purposes. We expect it to be one of the most definitive descriptive models of such a cardinal course, and help to guide and actually, shape the decisions of universities and academic programs focusing on information/cyber security in the updating and upgrading their curricula, most especially, the foundational principles course in light of new findings that are herein articulated.