Meeting the growing demands in the field of cybersecurity

UMA currently offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, minors, and certificates to meet your educational needs. Students have the option of taking required courses completely online, or through a combination of live, online, and video conferencing.

  • Master of Science
  • Accelerated Master of Science (new Fall23)
  • Bachelor of Science
  • Associate of Science (new Fall23)
  • Minors in Cyber Security and Cyber Forensics

For courses, course descriptions, policies, and more, browse the UMA Catalog.

For tuition rates, course fees, policies, and more, browse Student Financial Services.

What is your cybersecurity career pathway?

Our certificate programs can help you get started in the field of cybersecurity.

  • CIS-Cyber Fundamentals
  • Cybersecurity
  • Cyber Forensics
  • Cyber Operations
  • Information Assurance
  • Network Security Analyst
  • Secure Application Development

Still not sure? Check out the Cyber Career Pathways Tool provided by the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies or, CyberSeek’s detailed data about supply and demand in the cyber job market.


Graduate Certificate in Cybersecurity

Students complete 15 credits of coursework, which includes 12 credits of required courses and 3 credits of an elective course, chosen from an approved list of courses.

Required courses: (12 Credits)

  • CYB 501 – Cybersecurity Fundamentals
  • CYB 530 – Project Management in Cybersecurity
  • CYB 551 – Cyber Laws, Policies, and Ethics
  • CYB 576 – Network Security Management

Choose one of the following electives: (3 Credits)

  • CYB 582 – Cybersecurity Investigations
  • CYB 583 – Database and Application Security
  • CYB 584 – Cybersecurity Operations

Cultivate your experience and build connections.

As an academic member of the National CyberWatch Center [a consortium of higher education institutions, public and private schools, individual cybersecurity practitioners, businesses, and government agencies focused on collaborative efforts to advance cybersecurity education and strengthen the national cybersecurity workforce], students are encouraged to participate in professional development opportunities and collaborate with organizations beyond the normal boundaries of the institution, helping to build professional connections, as well as promote cyber awareness and education in the community.

To keep up with cybersecurity trends, many organizations, such as the ones listed below offer training and support, scholarship and career opportunities, mentoring, and much more.

  • The National Cybersecurity Student Association (NCSA) is a resource hub to enhance the educational and professional development of cybersecurity students through activities, networking and collaboration. This group supports the cybersecurity educational programs of academic institutions, inspires career awareness and encourages creative efforts to increase the number of graduates in the field.
  • The Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) is where the recruitment, retention and advancement of women in cybersecurity happens. They are a global community of women, allies and advocates, dedicated to bringing talented women together to celebrate and foster their passion and drive for cybersecurity. They unite local communities of aspiring and thriving women cybersecurity professionals across the world to collaborate, share their knowledge, network and mentor. They create opportunities through professional development programs, conferences, career fairs, and more.

Industry Certifications

We also encourage our students to seek industry certifications. According to NICE, Computing and Cybersecurity Certifications have been used to detail the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) needed for key roles in information technology and cybersecurity. The primary focus of a professional certification program is to provide an independent assessment of the KSAs required for performance of an occupational role or specific work-related tasks. The certification awarded is a quality benchmark and designates that participants have demonstrated the requisite KSAs and other requirements established by the certification program provider.

Certification Programs provide hands-on learning and performance-based assessments, validate competencies to perform work roles, supply learners with portable and stackable credentials, and ensure continued competence in an evolving field through renewal requirement.

UMA Cybersecurity lab

Our students are welcome to use the Cybersecurity Resource Center (CRC) located on the Augusta campus in the Randall Student Center, Room 246. The lab is available to students Monday-Friday, when classes are not scheduled in the lab. Students may also request access during the evening hours.

Our students also gain hands-on experience through our Maine Cyber Range, an immersive training and simulation center where students build their skills on how to best detect, stop, and remediate cybersecurity incidents. (Cyber ranges are interactive, simulated representations of an organization’s local network, system, tools, and applications that are connected to a simulated Internet level environment).

Ask us about opportunities to participate in student research by emailing UMAcyber@maine.edu

Recommended
CPU: Intel core i7 or higher
Memory (RAM): 16GB
Hard Drive: 500GB/1TB Solid state drive (SSD)
Operating System: Windows 10 Educational or Pro version, MAC
Internet Speed: 10 mb/s or higher
Internet Browser: Only two browsers are fully supported for access to our virtual lab systems, Google Chrome & Mozilla Firefox

Virtual Machine
Some classes may require virtualization software. Please ask you Instructor about the VMware Workstation education license/download. For MAC users, we recommend using Boot Camp (utility that comes with your MAC, and allows you to switch between MAC OS and Windows OS). An open source option is Oracle VM VirtualBox, but it is not widely used in the curriculum.

Online Storage
Students should backup homework and important documentation. UMA provides you access to Google Drive and One Drive.