About the Program
An interdisciplinary undergraduate degree program in Cyber Criminology was offered by FSU starting in Fall 2007. This new degree program was developed jointly by the Department of Computer Science and the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Computer crime can be broadly defined as any criminal activity that involves the use of information technology. These crimes include illegally accessing information, intercepting data, damaging or deleting data, interfering with the functioning of a computer system, identity theft, etc. Information-related crime and computer/network security issues are already major concerns. These issues affect all levels of business, government, and academia and have grown in importance as most organizations link their networked computer environments to the Internet. A Cyber Criminology student will learn both how to use computers to facilitate the study of crime and will study how crimes are accomplished through the use of computers.
Employment and Research Opportunities
We anticipate there will be a significant demand for graduates of the Cyber Criminology program. It is well known that there is a shortage of information technology experts. Similarly, there is a pressing need for information technology specialists to handle issues related to information crime, cyberforensics, and computer/network security. However, there is also a need for computer skills for the prevention, detection, and study of all types of crime, whether or not they involve the use of information technology. Graduates of the program will be prepared to work either for law enforcement agencies as information crime specialists, within companies or organizations as network security specialists, or within academia and government to study the causes of crime and the best methods for its prevention.