Kansas State University Salina is adding an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) cybersecurity concentration to its Professional Master of Technology.
The new academic emphasis is online-based and gives interested students the flexibility of either working toward a master's degree or taking individual courses to help advance their knowledge and specialize in a niche within the UAS industry.
In the first UAS cybersecurity-focused class, students will learn basic principles of information security (InfoSec) and risk analysis and assessment. They will study UAS information sources and components that examine the identification of cyberthreats and vulnerabilities to systems.
In addition, students will create a taxonomy of risks and required countermeasures to mitigate the danger to UAS systems, as well as investigate the drone crash database to identify potential threat exposure and correlate incidents to supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) or cyberattack vectors.
‘I'm pleased that we're moving toward educating students on the cybersecurity issues that affect unmanned aircraft systems,’ says Kurt Barnhart, K-State Salina's associate dean of research and engagement. ‘We've had a strength in the area of UAS research and education for many years now, and as this technology proliferates, it will become increasingly important that we teach students to have a better grasp of the vulnerabilities of these systems and how to protect them to prevent misuse.’
The university is currently enrolling students for the inaugural class, which will begin on June 8. Two more special topics courses for the UAS cybersecurity concentration will be offered in the fall and then a final two in spring 2016.
