Jawbox wrote:
<SNIP>
Does anyone know of an institution offering M.Sc. for Information
Security/Assurance? <SNIP>
Jawbox,
There are a number of schools offering Master's programs in Information
Assurance, and you may find some of the following useful. Perhaps a good
place to start is the Scholarship For Service program offered by the
Office of Personnel Management, i.e., the federal goverment.
In short, the SFS program pays for up to 2 years of your education
(undergrad or grad) in exchange for an equivelant commitment in service.
I have heard that the DoD has a similar program where they pay up to 4
years. Each school has its own requirements, and it's important to
contact your potential schools early; for example, the Naval
Postgraduate School in California wants a lot of math, and I get the
impression that some students are sorely underprepared. In SFS,
participants receive a stipend, I believe there's a computer allowance,
tuition is paid, and you are supposedly guaranteed an internship, which
is usually where you plan to serve your required term of employment. One
thing to keep in mind is that a background check will be done as a
precursor to employment; you must be able to obtain a security clearance
to be admitted to the program. If you've had bad debt, been out of the
country, downloaded racy pictures, or a whole bunch of other things that
might be surprising, you risk refusal. On a positive note, time is a
factor, the longer it's been the better off you may be, and if you
aren't eligible for your intended clearance you may still be able to
work for a branch of government that has lower requirements, e.g., the FDIC.
In any case, I've carried on enough, save some parting comments. I would
start with who's funded, as scholarship funding is only provided to
"participating institutions". Ask questions. I've discovered that some
institutions will lose funding by the time I would want to attend (Iowa
State), and others offer the program but have goofy entrance
requirements. Idaho state, which has an FBI field office in the same
city, is on the list but doesn't have a Master's program. Schools say
that administrative overhead is immense; some discovered they just don't
want to deal with it once their current grads get through...and you
might be interdepartmental, which is a whole different ball game. If you
don't need the scholarship you can find plenty of schools offering an IA
program, maybe even one with the management and technical mix you're
seeking. Good luck.
What is SFS?
http://www.sfs.opm.gov/ScholarshipMain.asp
Principal Investigators (participating institutions)
http://www.sfs.opm.gov/ContactsPI.asp
DoD DIAP IASP (Information Assurance Scholarship Program) (just a
jumping off place for you)
http://www.defenselink.mil/nii/org/sio/ia/diap/accessible/iasp-a.html
http://www.defenselink.mil/nii/iasp/
Best regards,
Kirk
--
Kirk M. Schafer
Infosec Capital
201 Hawk Ridge Dr #2210
Iowa City, IA 52246
