This advanced cybersecurity degree shows why strategy is your best security measure.

The biggest cyber threat to an organization is the one that hasn’t been launched yet — the ambush that leaves cybersecurity professionals scrambling to minimize damage while still having to look over their shoulders, scanning the horizon for the next surprise.

As the pressures ramp up on cybersecurity professionals, so do the functions that they must master. They need to go beyond their traditional cybersecurity training to do the impossible: address privacy concerns, keep up with new data-protection regulations, deal with existing vulnerabilities and anticipate coming ones. To succeed in this challenging environment, yes, they must be on the cutting-edge of technology, but they must also have a sophisticated understanding of policy, human factors, and privacy.

Furthermore, to lead cybersecurity, they must possess the unique and critical ability to devise and execute integrated, comprehensive cybersecurity strategies for companies and organizations in a global economy.

This is a tall order for leaders. Luckily academia is stepping-up to the plate.  For professionals interested in developing the skills to drive cybersecurity at this macro level, you need a program that reflects the interdisciplinary breadth of this growing industry.

This interdisciplinary approach to cybersecurity leadership is the foundational principle behind Brown University’s Executive Master in Cybersecurity (EMCS).  EMCS brings together experts from Brown’s leading departments— spanning computer science, international studies, public affairs, and psychology— to deliver a multidisciplinary approach to cyber leadership critical to protect today’s businesses and society.

The program is designed to cultivate a new type of cyber leader who possesses not only the necessary technical awareness that can be acquired through education and training, but also whose thinking is influenced by exposure to a broad range of ideas and perspectives. These leaders hail from IT, but also law, policy, HR and even the traditional physical security space.

Through exposure to fields that aren’t necessarily related to their area of expertise – whether it’s IT, regulations, or human behavior – these leaders gain the capacity to develop effective strategies that leverage and unite their organizations’ stakeholders across the corporation.

With these skills, these leaders are able to:

• Understand the security, human, and privacy implications of emerging technologies, such as big data, cloud computing, mobile computing, social networks, the Internet of Things, and blockchain
• Gain proficiency in identifying vulnerabilities, anticipating attacks, using monitoring tools, and developing defensive strategies
• Build organizational resilience, crisis management, and response capabilities
• Have the capacity to defend organizations against known threats while at the same looking ahead to anticipate the threats of tomorrow
• Recognize that there’s no such thing as 100% security, and rely instead on strategy as the best security

To find out how you can become a cybersecurity leader prepared for tomorrow’s threats, we invite you to learn more about The Brown University Executive Master in Cybersecurity program at brown.edu/cybersecurity.

Source:  Brown University
Program:  Executive Master in Cybersecurity