L.
Taylor - June 9, 2000
Event
Summary:
With the current onslaught of cybercrime, Federal Agencies and Corporations
are starting to pay more attention to information and network security.
The current dearth of Information Technology (IT) professionals has created
quite a challenge to filling all IT employment sectors. Within the IT
pool of resources, security engineers and security savvy managers are
hard to come by. Now is a great time to obtain an advanced degree in one
of the information security disciplines. But even the maelstrom of a flourishing
economy does not take away the pain of financing an advanced degree.
In
the United States, it is not uncommon for one year of graduate school
(tuition and housing) to exceed $30,000. We grimly have come to accept
such exorbitant costs as the price one pays for an advanced degree. However,
the web has opened new windows of opportunity for us, providing a vehicle
for finding out information on the price of higher education overseas.
As it turns out, if you're the adventurous type, most graduate degrees
in other countries are far more affordable than at U.S. institutions of
higher learning. We took at look at which foreign universities offer advanced
programs in Information Security, Cryptography, and cousin technologies,
and found that better deals were to be found abroad.
Whereas
other countries consider education in higher learning to be an investment
in their economy, United States culture views higher education as a privilege
that must be paid for. Almost all universities overseas and in Canada
are far more affordable, due to the strong government funding they receive.
A
large number of these courses are taught in English. After a cursory look
at educational links on the web, we were not able to find a comprehensive
site of any sort that collated the various foreign programs in Information
Security. If you are the adventurous type, our listing of Information
Security Programs abroad can help you obtain a stellar education in a
well sought after and much needed field at an affordable price.
Table
1.
Graduate level cyber security programs abroad and their institutions.
| Institution
Name |
Location
|
Programs,
Courses, and Laboratory Information |
| Royal
Holloway, University of London |
London,
England |
MSc in Information Security
MSc in Secure Electronic Commerce
Smart Card Laboratory |
| University
of Amsterdam |
Amsterdam,
Netherlands |
Java
security and web security |
| Cambridge
University |
Cambridge,
England |
Cryptography,
algorithms |
| Queensland
University |
Brisbane,
Australia |
Information
Security Research Centre |
| University
of Glamorgan |
Mid
Glamorgan, Wales, U.K. |
MSc.
in Information Security & Computer Crime |
| Eindhoven
University of Technology |
Eindhoven,
Netherlands |
Cryptography;
No tuition for Ph.D. |
| Universitat
Politcnica de Catalunya |
Barcelona,
Catalonia, Spain |
Cryptography, Wireless Access Control
All courses taught in Spanish |
| Monash
Univeristy |
Victoria,
Australia |
PKI,
Crypto, Viruses, Auditing, Computer Crime |
| Curtin
University of Technology |
Western
Australia |
Information
Security, Database Security |
| Odense
University |
Odense,
Denmark |
Cryptography,
algorithms |
| Chalmers
University of Technology |
Gothenburg,
Sweden |
No
tuition fees. [Security] Technology Management, Risk Management |
| Royal
Institute of Technology (KTH) |
Stockholm,
Sweden |
No
tuition for Master's Program. Security Auditing, Network Security,
SecLab |
| University
of Edinburgh |
Edinburgh,
Scotland |
MSc.
by Research, Custom Programs Division of Informatics
ICSA.
Compiler Security, Transaction Security (TIP) |
| University
of Auckland |
Auckland,
New Zealand |
Cryptography,
algorithms, software watermarking, software licensing |
| University
of Otago |
Dunedin,
New Zealand |
Security
in Computing, Cryptography, Custom Programs |
| Berlin
University for Technology |
Berlin,
Germany |
Java
security. Security projects |
| University
of Hamburg |
Hamburg,
Germany |
Virus
Test Centre. Security Management, Java Security. IT Security and
Safety Curriculum. Data Protection Seminar |
| University
of Magdeburg |
Magdeburg,
Germany |
Good
antivirus program. Database Security, Java Security, Webhosting Security,
LDAP |
| Federal
Institute of Technology |
Zurich,
Switzerland |
Cryptography
and Java Cryptography and Security |
| University
of Waterloo |
Waterloo,
Canada |
Centre
for Applied Cryptographic research |
| University
of Toronto |
Toronto,
Canada |
Java
Cryptography, Security Protocols |
Switzerland
It is believed that the only reason to go a private school in Switzerland
is if you can't make it at a public school. The largest city in Switzerland,
Zurich, is home to numerous Internet cafes, as well as The Federal Institute
of Technology. The Federal Institute of Technology is the first place
that Compuserve Germany looks when hiring information security engineers.
With excellent Java Security programs, this is a good place for Java Security
engineers to get a leg up.
Zurich
Switzerland is home to the Federal Institute of Technology which has a
notable Java Security program.
Netherlands
Eindhoven, home of the Eindhoven University of Technology, has come a
long way since its medieval past. It is the home of a cutting-edge biometrics
facility owned by Royal Philips Electronics where Philips has incorporated
finger-print recognition scanning into its line of flat-display monitors.
Philips employs many expert cryptography professionals and earning a Ph.D.
in cryptography at Einhoven University requires no tuition. Eindhoven's
city slogan is "Leading in Technology."
Eindhoven
(big round circular dark red area), which became a city in 1232, is a
hotbed of technology in the Netherlands and is home to 32,000 companies.
[See Figure 1]
Figure
1.
Source: TNO
Eindhoven
is an important hub of European Internet Backbone connectivity and is
one of the biggest technological centers in Europe. [See Figure 2]
Figure
2.
Source: Eindhoven
ICT
Scotland
In the heart of Scotland's capital, University of Edinburgh has been notorious
for innovation and technology for over 400 years. "The Athens of the North,"
Edinburgh is a coastal city in southeast Scotland and is the birthplace
of Alexander Graham Bell. It was once the research center for Charles
Darwin, and is where Lord Joseph Lister first introduced the idea of antiseptics
into surgery. University of Edinburgh is ranked #1 in the Guardian League
Table of teaching in Computer Science in the United Kingdom.
University
of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland
New
Zealand and Australia
The University of Auckland is New Zealand's largest university. Learn
about encryption algorithms and software watermarking in The City
of Sails where New Zealand America's Cup team calls home. With the
capability to educate aspiring security professionals, it is no coincidence
that leading regional security companies like Sophos and Marshall Software
have sprouted up in Australia and New Zealand respectively. Recently KPMG
selected Sophos to standardize on for Internet virus control. Last year,
Marshall Software won IDG Computerworld's Innovator of the Year
award for e-mail security and monitoring. In a head-to-head test with
Trend Micro, initiated by a California company called CoolSavings.com,
MailMarshal outperformed Trend Micro in speed, accuracy, and ease-of-use.
(CoolSavings.com is an Internet marketing company with over 6 million
registered users.)
Auckland,
New Zealand offers First Class Security Research
Germany
Germany is noted for its savvy information security engineers. When
Saudi Arabia wanted a country-wide firewall designed and developed,
it turned to German information security consultants. In fact, information
security is a standard topic when you study IT-related professions in
Germany. According to Howard Fuh's, founder of a German based Computer
Virus Research Lab, many German universities offer IT security courses
at no additional cost to their students. Making information security education
easily accessible may be one reason why the Germans show unprecedented
proficiency in this area. In fact, Europes's most notorious hacker conference,
Chaos Communication Camp, takes place yearly in Berlin and attracts individuals
from all over the world who are experts in information security.
Many
of the descriptions for German security courses are behind firewalls,
and therefore, you have to contact the universities directly in order
to obtain the course overview descriptions.
High technology abounds at the Berlin University for Technology
|
|
Learn
the engineering technology of smart labels at the Berlin University
for Technology. These labels are used for identification purposes
and wireless payment transfers and will become ubiquitous in the future.
|
 |
University
of Hamburg has a Virus Test Centre. |
Sweden
Due to extensive government funding, in Sweden there are typically no
tuition fees at the universities, and the cost of living for one month
is 6800 Krona which is around $780.00 USD. This is a huge savings over
the cost of an analogous program in the United States. At the Royal Institute
of Technology in Sweden, a free program exists to obtain a Master's degree
in security auditing or network security. The Royal Institute of Technology
(KTH) in Stockholm is funded by grants through private industry, Nutek,
Swedish Foundation of Strategic Research, the European Union, the Swedish
Research council for Engineering Sciences, and other government agencies.
Stockholm is the home of Baltimore Technologies' regional Nordic headquarters.
Baltimore Technologies is a leading vendor of security and PKI products.
Learn
the history of the surrounding castles while obtaining an information
security degree in Stockholm.
Recommendations:
The web opens up a whole new world of online education information including
information about Graduate Programs in Information Security and Cryptography.
Often times, in their quest to attract a diverse student body, overseas
institutions are very eager to admit American students. For those interested
in continuing their education and research in the Information Security
field, you can expand your cultural education and more often than not,
save money by studying overseas. As far as technology goes, TCP/IP is
TCP/IP no matter what country you're in.
- After
surfing a university's website, find out the contact for International
students and exchange some e-mail asking as many questions as you can
about the various programs. Sometimes Information Security programs
are a part of the Computer Science or Informatics department, and sometimes
Cryptography programs are part of the Mathematics department.
- After
finding out the tuition, use an online Currency Converter to do the
monetary conversions. Compare the tuition fees and housing costs with
comparable programs in the United States.
- No matter
what program you decide to enroll in, most of the time you get a better
deal on tuition costs if you attend full-time. Be sure to find out the
difference in price between part-time and full-time programs.
- Include
the cost of air-fare in your analysis of pricing comparisons.
- Put your
findings on a spreadsheet and do a regimented comparison of all factors
that are important to your area of interest before making a decision.
- If you
attend, or have attended, any of these programs, write to us and let
us know what you like and don't like about each one. Send all feedback
to:
security@technologyevaluation.com