Contact:
Chriss Swaney
412-268-5776

For immediate release:
September 9, 2004

Carnegie Mellon CyLab To Offer New Executive Security Program at University's Silicon Valley West Coast Campus

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab this year will begin to offer a new executive certificate program in security in Silicon Valley to address the policy, management, and physical and technical issues facing government and industry.

The Chief Security Officer (CSO) Executive Certificate Program will focus on developing skills for existing and future chief security and chief information security officers. The certificate program is designed for professionals with backgrounds ranging from technical to non-technical, taking participants with an interest in analyzing and creating security policy or managing security operations and equipping them with the analytical methods and management practices required for success as executives.

The program will be run by CyLab, a university-wide, multidisciplinary initiative that builds on more than two decades of Carnegie Mellon's leadership in information technology, management and policy.

"The new certificate program addresses the professional skills so endemic to the success of current and future security executives," said Pradeep Khosla, dean of the College of Engineering and co-director of CyLab. "Given CyLab's interdisciplinary strengths in technology, policy and management, CyLab is strategically positioned to offer programs that can produce executives capable of solving complex security problems," he said.

The new CSO certificate prepares participants to become executives in security by blending education in information security technology, physical security, business management and policy.

"This executive program is an important step in CyLab's vision of promoting best practices among current and future security executives, as well as educating tomorrow's leaders in a variety of activities relating to technology, policy, security and privacy," according to Dena Haritos Tsamitis, director of education, training and outreach for Carnegie Mellon CyLab, and director of the Information Networking Institute.

The CSO certificate may be obtained by completing an eight-course curriculum, including everything from managing heterogeneous networks to developing and maintaining a secure IT infrastructure. Each course is designed to be completed in three days. The program's inaugural courses will be offered in November.

Program participants also may be eligible to earn credits toward a Master of Science in Information Technology - Information Security and Privacy (MSIT-ISP) degree program to be offered in spring 2005 by the Information Networking Institute at the university's West Coast campus.

About CyLab
CyLab is a university-wide, multidisciplinary initiative that builds on more than two decades of Carnegie Mellon's leadership in Information Technology and involves more than 200 faculty, students and staff from six departments within Carnegie Mellon.

About the Information Networking Institute
The Information Networking Institute (INI) is a cooperative effort of Carnegie Mellon's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business, the School of Computer Science and the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management. The INI, established in 1989, was the nation's first research and education center devoted to training a new generation of information networking professionals.

About Carnegie Mellon
The only top-25 university founded in the 20th century, Carnegie Mellon has rapidly evolved into an internationally recognized institution with a distinctive mix of programs in computer science, robotics, engineering, the sciences, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions to solve real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors. While technology is pervasive on its 110-acre campus, Carnegie Mellon is distinctive among research universities because of its conservatory-like programs in its College of Fine Arts.