10 Business Schools Bringing Cyber Security Tools To Executives

Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business is developing a new cyber security course for business students in its MS in Information Security, BusinessBecause has learnt. A formal announcement is expected within the next year.

Meanwhile, France’s EDHEC Business School has just launched a new track for MBA students focused on economic crime risk, including cyber security.

MBA students at Georgia Tech are already exploring cyber security topics. But a new course will broaden the business school’s scope to cover an issue costing the global economy $575 billion a year.

“Cyber security has become a C-level issue,” said Peter Swire, a professor at Georgia Tech, who advised President Barack Obama on US cyber security strategy.

“Information security is a concern that will apply to all businesses going forward,” he told BB. “And managers increasingly need to have at least a basic grasp of how cyber security works.”

EDHEC has signed up 15 students, who will visit Silicon Valley to meet with companies involved with cyber security. “Cyber security is one of the biggest areas of concern for businesses right now,” Michelle Sisto, director of the EDHEC Global MBA, said.

Cyber security has risen up the business agenda in recent years, as high-profile cyber attacks on the likes of JPMorgan Chase, TalkTalk and Target have stoked public fears.

This subject is increasingly being broached by even elite business schools, mostly in the US, where the government has tried to clamp down on security breaches.

At Harvard, a cybersecurity course costing $7,600 will run in 2016, aimed partly at business executives who need to balance innovation with the protection of intellectual property.

Professors from the Haas School of Business are working with peers from UC Berkeley’s engineering disciplines to foster research programs around the issue, at the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity.

For MIT Sloan, an initiative called (IC)3 focuses on the strategic, managerial, and operational issues related to cyber security infrastructure. Sloan is working with ExxonMobil and Schneider Electric.

David Schmittlein, MIT Sloan’s dean, said: “Cyber security of our critical infrastructure is a serious national security challenge.”

In the past, GW School of Business and Olin Business School have both launched masters and MBA programs focused on cyber security.

At Stanford in 2015, the first cohort graduated from a computer science MBA/MS degree, which delves into cyber security and information management.

“The combination program recognizes the critical connections between technology, innovation, strategy, and execution,” said Madhav Rajan, senior associate dean at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Also in 2015, Coventry Business School launched an MBA in cyber security. “Organizations, particularly those associated with critical national infrastructure, are being systematically attacked, all day, every day,” said Dr Jason Ferdinand, head of Coventry’s cyber security management research group.

The more recent initiatives include at the Kogod School of Business, which recently set-up a Cybersecurity Governance Center. “The relentless growth of cyber crimes against corporations is one of the great corporate governance challenges of our time,” said William DeLone, executive director.

And Oxford’s Saïd Business School recently announced plans to run a cyber risk program for business executives. “Cyber security should be a standard part of any business education,” said David Upton, a professor at Oxford.