Cybersecurity education: Evolution of the discipline and analysis of master programs

This paper aims at analysing which cybersecurity topics are covered by existing cybersecurity master programs of top universities and how these topics are distributed through courses. It starts by reviewing the evolution and maturation of the cybersecurity discipline, focusing on the ACM efforts, which include the early addition of the Information Assurance and Security Knowledge Areas to the computer science curricula and, more recently, the development of curricular recommendations to support the definition of post-secondary cybersecurity programs. These latest guidelines are used to analyse and review 21 cybersecurity master programs, focusing on the contents of their courses, structure, admission requirements, duration, requirements for completion, and evolution.