2020-2021 Catalog 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
2020-2021 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Cyber Defense Associate of Science


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The Saddleback Cyber Defense program starts students on a pathway to becoming a United States Department of Defense (DoD) Cyber Security Service Provider (CSSP) in the form of a Computer Science Associate of Science degree that is built for transfer along with the preparation needed to take the Certified Ethical Hacker exam which meets the minimum certificate requirements for the CSSP Analyst, Infrastructure Support, Incident Responder, and Auditor levels.
 
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) Cyber Security Service Provider (CSSP) workforce consist of 5 different levels of employment (e.g. Analyst, Infrastructure Support, Incident Responder, Auditor, and Manager), with each requiring one or more industry certificates along with a 4-year degree. The CSSP is a highly sought-after certification issued by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) that indicates a candidate’s fitness for the DoD CSSP workforce.

Program Student Learning Outcomes


Student who complete this program will be able to:

  • Core Computer Science skillsets needed to develop algorithmic solutions to non-trivial problems.
    • Systems Thinking: Analyze, design, implement, and evaluate a computer-based system, process, component, or program to meet desired needs.
    • Problem Solving: Identify problems and formulate solutions for systems and organizations while reconciling conflicting objectives and finding compromises.
    • Pragmatic Approach: Apply computing theory and programming principles to practical software design and development.
  • Core Mathematic skillsets needed to see mathematical structures in the objects you work with and understand their properties. This ability is important for software engineers, data scientists, security and financial analysts.
    • Apply basic algorithmic techniques such as greedy algorithms, binary search, sorting and dynamic programming to solve programming challenges.
    • Apply various data structures such as stack, queue, hash table, priority queue, binary search tree, graph and string to solve programming challenges.
    • Apply graph and string algorithms to solve real-world challenges: finding shortest paths on huge maps and assembling genomes from millions of pieces.
    • Solve complex programming challenges using advanced techniques: maximum flow, linear programming, approximate algorithms, SAT-solvers, streaming

The following SLO is aligned with the NSA/DoD Knowledge Units (KU).

  • Cybersecurity Foundations (CSF) – The intent of the Cybersecurity Foundations Knowledge Unit is to provide students with a basic understanding of the fundamental concepts behind cybersecurity. To complete this KU, students should be able to:
    • Describe the fundamental concepts of the cybersecurity discipline and use to provide system security.
    • Describe potential system attacks and the actors that might perform them.
    • Describe cyber defense tools, methods and components and apply cyber defense methods to prepare a system to repel attacks.
    • Describe appropriate measures to be taken should a system compromise occur.
    • Properly use the vocabulary associated with cybersecurity.

REQUIRED CORE:

Course ID Title Units
CS 1A   Introduction to Computer Science I 3.5
CS 1B  * Introduction to Computer Science II 3.5
MATH 2  * Pre-Calculus Mathematics 5
CS 30A  * or Computer Discrete Mathematics I 3
MATH 30A  * Computer Discrete Mathematics I 3
CS 30B  * or Computer Discrete Mathematics II 3
MATH 30B  * Computer Discrete Mathematics II 3
CS 3A  * Computer Organization and Machine Language 3.5
CS 3B  * Computer Organization and Assembly Language 3.5
CIMS 150  * Introduction to Cybersecurity: Ethical Hacking 3

TOTAL UNITS FOR THE MAJOR:


28

 

Associate of Science Degree


Complete a minimum of 60 units including the total number of units described above and the General Education requirements with an overall GPA of 2.0 to qualify for the Associate of Science degree. A minimum of 12 units must be completed at Saddleback College.

General Education Requirements for Associate Degrees


Refer to the Graduation Requirements or to the CSU-GE and IGETC patterns in this catalog for specific courses which meet general education requirements. Refer to ASSIST.org and to the transfer institution’s catalog for transfer requirements.
 
*Course has a prerequisite, corequisite, limitation, or recommended preparation; see course description.  
 

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