June 11, 2007 Laurel, Maryland

Capitol College’s Master of Science in information assurance (IA) curriculum is again being recognized for meeting a federal courseware standard.

The National Security Agency announced on June 5 that Capitol College’s IA curriculum not only meets all of the elements of the National Information Assurance Training Standard For Risk Analysts (CNSSI-4016, November 2005), but does so at the Advanced level. The achievement was officially recognized at an awards ceremony in Boston during The Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education.

Capitol College and the University of Tulsa are the only two institutions nationwide that meet the most advanced level of professional competencies specified in all six federal standards for information assurance curricula established by the Committee for National Security Systems (CNSS). Capitol College is one of 86 institutions that meet at least two of the CNSS standards and have been designated as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education (CAEIAEs) by NSA and the Department of Homeland Security.

The content of Capitol’s graduate-level information assurance courses is “mapped,” or matched, to the requirements of CNSSI/NSTISSI standards 4011, 4012, 4013A, 4014A, 4015 and 4016A, with the suffix A indicating mapping at the Advanced level for the three standards that include multiple levels. The standards specify the minimum course content for training of information systems security professionals (4011), senior systems managers (4012), system administrators (4013), information systems security officers (4014), systems certifiers (4015) and risk analysts (4016).

“Capitol College continues to offer a comprehensive IA curriculum that provides relevant knowledge and the practical skills that the federal IT profession requires,” said Allan Berg, director of the college’s Critical Infrastructures and Cyber Protection Center (CICPC). “We are proud of this recognition of academic excellence and proud of our alumni who work at NSA, DoD, NASA and other organizations, public and private.”

Students who earn the MSIA degree receive a certificate stating that they have studied all six of the CNSS professional competencies. CICPC also offers exam preparation courses for federal IT professionals and others who need CISSP, Security+ or SSCP certification.