IIT Kanpur Introduces 3 New Master’s Courses in Cybersecurity: All You Need to Know

IIT Kanpur, from the academic year August 2021 for which admissions begin in April May 2021, will offer three new Master’s programme in cybersecurity to students. The Indian Institute of Technology says that these courses are being offered to meet the shortfall in trained and skilled cybersecurity personnel in the country. The courses, which will be offered to students, are MTech, MS by Research, and BT-MT Dual Degree. he initiative for launching the three courses in Cybersecurity was taken by Prof Manindra Agrawal and Prof Sandeep K. Shukla from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering

“I am delighted to share that institute is going to start 3 Masters programs in CyberSecurity in the Department of Computer Science. MTech, MS by Research, and BTech-MTech Dual Degree programs to start from August 2021 for which admissions will commence during the April-May 2021 cycle,” said Prof. Abhay Krandikar, director, IIT Kanpur.

“In the world of Digital Nomads (especially after Covid19) and Gig Economy, there has been a significant shift to the cloud as almost everyone who is involved in a productive activity has had to go online and use digital devices. This shift means there are millions of new netizens and organizations that are potentially vulnerable to sophisticated cybercrime. We have timed these Masters programs to ensure that we start producing cyber warriors of the future who can defend not only national boundaries but also make a mark internationally,” he added.

Who can Take the IIT Kanpur Master’s Courses in Cybersecurity?

The Master’s programme will be initially offered to a limited number of students with plans to gradually scale up in size and scope. The MTech program in cybersecurity will initially be offered to 15 students through GATE or industry sponsorship and 10 students from Defence and other strategic government bodies to address the need in beefing up the cybersecurity and cyber-defence workforce in the government.

The MS by Research in cybersecurity program will accept 10 students through GATE and industry sponsorship and 5 students from Defence and other Government agencies. The BTech-MTech dual program is currently being offered only to IIT Kanpur Computer Science and Engineering BTech students who want to opt for a BTech-MTech dual degree by completing additional credits to earn a master’s degree. These numbers include the necessary percentage of reserved seats from various reserved categories as per the extant laws, said a statement from the institute.

What Students of the IIT Kanpur Master’s Courses in Cybersecurity Will Learn

The MTech program in Cybersecurity will equip students with skills necessary to be successful in roles such as Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) engineers, Security center analysts, Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) engineers, Cybersecurity tool developers and other roles that involve protecting systems against the threat of attacks by malicious actors. The MS by Research program is designed to train cybersecurity researchers, technology developers, cybersecurity strategists, and top-level cybersecurity policy designers. An option for BT-MT dual degree students is proposed that will enable them to specialize in cybersecurity.