Software Engineering Institute

Pittsburgh, Pa., July 17, 2012—Carnegie Mellon University's H. John Heinz III College, in partnership with the CERT Program of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), today announced the launch of an education and certification program for information security executives. The Chief Information Security Officer Executive (CISO-Executive) Education and Certification Program will welcome its first class in September at the SEI office in Arlington, Va.

Protecting electronic information generated and stored within an organization requires education, tools and experience. The CISO role is responsible for implementing and maintaining a high quality and effective security program, while maintaining privacy, protecting confidential information, and operating under budgetary and resource constraints.

The new CISO-Executive Certification Program will emphasize strategic cybersecurity management through an independent concentration centered on leading edge research by CMU. The program will focus on developing competencies and skills currently missing in both the public and private sector. As part of the Heinz College CIO Institute, the program will stress current research and best practices identified by Carnegie Mellon for CISOs or those seeking to advance into an executive position focusing on cybersecurity.

Designed for executives and working cybersecurity professionals, the program is built around a curriculum that presents the latest approaches in information security and a practicum to demonstrate competency in the design and implementation of a successful cybersecurity project. The curriculum consists of 12 full-day classes over a period of four months. Each class focuses on a specific subject and business case chosen by the instructor that addresses real-word cybersecurity challenges. In the practicum, candidates will design, develop, and enact a project that demonstrates application of CISO skills and knowledge within a real organization or work environment. Instructors for the CISO-Executive program will be chosen from CERT, the Heinz College and select industry-leading professionals.

For more information or to register, go to http://hnz.cm/CISOexec.

About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon (www.cmu.edu) is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 11,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon's main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California's Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. The university is in the midst of “Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University,” which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements.

About the Software Engineering Institute and the CERT Program: The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the United States Department of Defense and operated by Carnegie Mellon University. The SEI helps organizations make measurable improvements in their software engineering capabilities by providing technical leadership to advance the practice of software engineering. For more information, visit the SEI website at http://www.sei.cmu.edu. The CERT Program serves as a center of enterprise and network security research, analysis, and training within the Software Engineering Institute. For more information, visit the CERT website at http://www.cert.org.