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Cybersecurity, M.S.

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Why Cybersecurity at NYU?
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We are here to help! Call us at 646.997.3623, U.S. Toll-Free at 877.503.7659, or email us at tandon.online@nyu.edu.
At the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, our MS in Cybersecurity program curriculum is rooted in the belief that theory and research must translate into real-world solutions and an accessible path to career advancement. To this end, we offer NYU Cyber Fellows, providing a 75% scholarship, and operate the National Science Foundation-funded Offensive Security, Incident Response, and Internet Security (OSIRIS) laboratory. We’ve also built a remotely accessible virtual laboratory called VITAL, which serves as a shared, central facility for a consortium of universities in New York City.
- NYU Tandon has a distinguished history of research and education in the field of cybersecurity.
- Classes are taught by internationally known experts.
- Designated as an NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations and Cyber Defense Research.
- Curriculum meets the National Training Standards set by the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS).

NYU Cyber Fellows

NYU Tandon Bridge
Admission Information
Admission RequirementsYou 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 criteria. Click on the applicable link below to jump to the section requirements that pertain to your situation:
- Have an undergraduate degree in computer science, mathematics, science, engineering or similar
- All other degrees
With an undergraduate degree in computer science, mathematics, science, engineering or similar |
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You must satisfy the following:
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All other degrees |
If you come from a non-engineering background you can prepare to apply for the Cybersecurity Master’s Degree in one of two ways, by either taking the one-course Bridge Program or three individual preparatory courses as mentioned in the Preparatory Courses section. |
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 master's degree from previous graduate work at an acceptable institution.
NYU Cyber Fellows
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
GRE Information
We recognize that due to COVID-19 restrictions some applicants may experience difficulty in taking the GRE test and, in response, we are committed to being flexible. For the Spring 2021 and Fall 2021 terms, the GRE is not required for all NYU Tandon Online MS programs. For more information, see the GRE/GMAT Requirements page.
Preparatory Course
If you come from a non-engineering background you can prepare to apply for the Cybersecurity Master’s Degree in one of the following two ways:
Option One: NYU Tandon Bridge
The 100% online NYU Bridge to Tandon fulfills any prerequisite courses required by the Cybersecurity Master’s program, and is recommended to those interested in applying for the Cybersecurity Master's Degree who are lacking a background in science or engineering.
The Bridge is a single course equivalent to 400 hours of learning and more than 3 courses containing topics in Computer Programming in C++, Object Oriented Design, Discrete Math, Data Structures and Algorithms, Principles of Operating Systems, and Introduction to Computer Networks.
If you have a degree in liberal arts or similar, the Bridge program will provide you with the tools needed to upgrade your math, science or engineering knowledge for consideration to a selection of master’s degrees at the School of Engineering.
Option Two: Take Three Individual Courses
We also offer three individual preparatory 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-GY5303
- 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-GY5403
- 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-GY6003
- 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.
Transfer of Courses
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.
Curriculum
Computer Science Core Courses (9 Credits)- 3 Credits Introduction to Operating Systems CS-GY6233
- 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-GY6843
- 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.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing and CS-UY 2134. - 3 Credits Design and Analysis of Algorithms I CS-GY6033
- 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.
Prerequisites: Graduate Standing, CS-GY 5403 and CS-GY 6003.
Any of the courses above may be replaced if you have taken a similar class.
Security Core Courses (12 Credits)
- 3 Credits Information, Security and Privacy CS-GY6813
- 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: Competency in Application Development in UNIX and Windows Environments, Graduate status. *Online version available.
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- 3 Credits Network Security CS-GY6823
- 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 and EL-GY 5363:* Online version available. - 3 Credits Applied Cryptography CS-GY6903
- 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-GY9163
- 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.
Prerequisite: Gradute standing
Most of the required security core courses above have a project component.
Electives - Select Three (9 Credits)
You may choose security-related courses from the School of Engineering or from New York University, including courses in 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 Machine Learning CS-GY6923
- 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.
Prerequisite: Graduate status with undergraduate level probability theory - 3 Credits Digital Forensics CS-GY6963
- 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 Information Systems Security Engineering and Management CS-GY6803
- 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 and CS-UY 392 or equivalent: *Online version available. - 3 Credits Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Analysis CS-GY6573
- 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.
Prerequisites: Graduate standing and CS-GY 6823
- 3 Credits Selected Topics in CS CS-GY9223
- 3 Credits Selected Topics in CS CS-GY9223
- 3 Credits Selected Topics in CS CS-GY9223
Research Project (Optional)
One goal of the MS program in Cybersecurity is to introduce students to the exciting research in the area of cybersecurity, in which you can use as a stepping stone to pursue a PhD degree. To this end, we offer a semester-long advanced project (CS 9963) in the area of cybersecurity as an elective. If you choose this option you will work under the guidance of a research professor and gain invaluable research experience.
Master's Thesis (Optional)
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 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 9963 may be used as 3.00 credits of CS 9973, subject to the approval of your faculty adviser(s).
NOTE: Please refer to the Course Catalog to view course descriptions by course number if information is not listed above.
Cyber Ops Specialization (Optional)
National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations ProgramNYU Tandon School of Engineering is one of about 20 graduate schools in the country to have the designation of National Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Cyber Operations. The CAE-Cyber Operations program is intended to be a deeply technical, interdisciplinary, higher education program firmly grounded in the computer science (CS), computer engineering (CE), and/or electrical engineering (EE) disciplines, with extensive opportunities for hands-on applications via labs/exercises.
National Centers of Academic Excellence - Cyber Operations
Students who wish to receive an acknowledgment that they have completed the NSA Cyber Operation Program must successfully complete the following courses:
- 3 Credits Design and Analysis of Algorithms I CS-GY6033
- 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.
Prerequisites: Graduate Standing, CS-GY 5403 and CS-GY 6003. - 3 Credits Introduction to Operating Systems CS-GY6233
- 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-GY6803
- 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 and CS-UY 392 or equivalent: *Online version available. - 3 Credits Information, Security and Privacy CS-GY6813
- 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: Competency in Application Development in UNIX and Windows Environments, Graduate status. *Online version available. - 3 Credits Network Security CS-GY6823
- 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 and EL-GY 5363:* Online version available. - 3 Credits Computer Networking CS-GY6843
- 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.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing and CS-UY 2134. - 3 Credits Applied Cryptography CS-GY6903
- 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-GY9163
- 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.
Prerequisite: Gradute standing
- Mobile Security CS-GY 9223
- Download course overview
Offensive Security CS-GY 9223
The CAE in Cyber Operations Summer Program (CAE-Cyber Ops SP) is the National Security Agency's (NSA) premier outreach program for students enrolled in the Cyber Operations specialization at NSA-designated universities. Selectees will be invited to participate in a 12-week summer program to gain knowledge of specific cyber-related topics and apply educational knowledge to address various real-world mission-related technical challenges. Participants in the program will work on a broad range of problems involving applications of computer science and engineering.