NSA-approved cybersecurity law and policy course now available online

NSA-approved cybersecurity law and policy course now available online

Cyber Scoop

Shannon Vavra

August 27th, 2019

Anyone who is interested in cybersecurity law and policy can now take an online course that was partly shaped by National Security Agency.

The course, which can be accessed through the CLARK Center, a curriculum management platform hosted at Towson University, touches on international and domestic cybersecurity law, cyber risk and technical details like how smartphones function, according to Anne McKenna, a Penn State professor who organized the course.

James Houck, director of Penn State's Center for Security Research and Education, told CyberScoop that program will serve as a primer to the legal and technical details of offensive and defensive cyber-operations.

"What we're trying to do ... is create a framework for people who are trying to be introduced to cyber law, to offensive, defensive cyber operations, and for them to learn the fundamentals, the framework -- and in our case legal authorities for how these work," Houck said.

Houck clarified that although the NSA put out a Call for Proposal for the course's creation, the course is unclassified and is not intended to cover internal NSA policy or business.

"The concept is: We create curriculum for the NSA, the NSA then, without centering it or trying to modify it, makes this curriculum available to professors around the country," Houck said.

Although the course is not necessarily about NSA operations, taking the course could help future government employment applications stand out. The course description notes it may prepare students for "potential future employment with the U.S. Government in the cybersecurity field."

The federal government has acknowledged it has particular challenges when it comes to hiring and retaining cybersecurity talent; the departments of Commerce and Homeland Security noted just last year the government "needs immediate and sustained improvements in its cybersecurity workforce situation."

"Employers increasingly are concerned about the relevance of cybersecurity-related education programs in meeting the needs of their organizations," the 2018 report notes. "Globally, projections suggest a cybersecurity workforce shortage of 1.8 million by 2022."

...read more about it here: https://www.cyberscoop.com/online-cybersecurity-law-course-penn-state-nsa/