This fall, the Whiting School of Engineering is offering a new course for graduate students interested in cybersecurity and entrepreneurship. The course “Cybersecurity Innovation and Entrepreneurship,” designed for students in the 3-semester Master of Science in Security Informatics (MSSI) and Master of Science in Engineering Management (MSEM) programs, is a two-semester sequence with an optional third semester.

“The Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute and Center for Leadership Education are responding to both the demand of our students for entrepreneurial pathways as well as the historic landscape of start-up opportunities in the cybersecurity field,” said Anton Dahbura, Executive Director, Information Security Institute.

Cybersecurity experts and entrepreneurs from the local and regional cybersecurity industry will present overviews of cybersecurity sub-areas for student teams to ideate original opportunities and present them to the class.

The goal of the course is for student teams to discover entrepreneurial ideas in the cybersecurity space with the goal of joining an accelerator or launching a start-up at the completion of their degree program. Student teams composed of MSEM and MSSI students will be linked with mentors early in the fall semester to guide the teams through the ideation process and then assist each team with selecting ideas to develop during the second and (optional) third semesters.

During the latter semesters, the teams will build prototypes of their ideas, create business plans, and pitch their ideas to potential investors and in business plan competitions. The course sequence is designed to provide a runway for student teams to prepare their cybersecurity business ideas to launch start-ups upon the students’ graduation.

“Our ultimate goal is to attract students who enroll in our program knowing that they will graduate with the makings of a cybersecurity start-up along with the support infrastructure to maximize their chance for success,” said Dahbura.

To learn more about the new course, click here.