Check it out… New Courses in IT!!!

Did you know that the College of Management has brand new courses in Business Intelligence and Computer Forensics?!  If you are interested in either of these areas we encourage you to consider enrolling in one of these courses.  All courses listed below will be offered in the Fall 2012 semester.


BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE in the COLLEGE of MANAGEMENT

You’ve probably heard about how Business Intelligence (BI) and Analytics and how they’re changing the way companies operate in every industry. You might have thought about how they’re being used in every facet of business – from the recommendations you see when you shop at Amazon.com or browse movies on Netflix, to finding the best route for you on Google or MapQuest, to detecting stolen credit cards and fraudulent transactions by banks, to approving your application for a loan or to graduate school – the list is almost endless.

But you might not be aware of how eagerly companies are seeking employees who work with BI and analytics – you can see just one example at http://www.techjournal.org/2011/12/data-analytics-business-intel-huge-job-growth-opportunity/ – or be aware the number of job openings there are right now – you can see just a few on Indeed.com at http://www.indeed.com/q-Business-Intelligence-jobs.html.

How will BI and Analytics affect your future and how can you prepare for it? One way is by learning about them and exposure to them in the College of Management’s new courses in BI and Analytics.

More and more schools are still developing courses in BI and Analytics (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-23/why-b-schools-should-teach-business-intelligence ). But you can take two courses, IT370 Business Intelligence Applications and IT372 Data Warehousing for Business Intelligence this coming Fall semester in the College of Management. If you’re in the BSIT or concentrating in MSIS, both count towards your major, or if you’re not, they can count as electives. Here are the details:

IT 370 Business Intelligence Applications

This course introduces concepts in business intelligence and explores how business intelligence (BI) can help improve management effectiveness through better decision-making in several functional areas such as business as marketing, finance, and manufacturing. This course will explore applications of BI, such as online analytical processing (OLAP), dashboards, management reporting, performance measurement, and data visualization, and how these are developed and applied. It will also investigate BI in the context of decision-making and closely related areas such as data warehousing, data marts, business analytics, web analytics, real-time data, and mobile applications. Students will gain hands on experience through assignments and projects using a comprehensive set of current BI tools.

IT 471 Data Warehousing for Business Intelligence

This course provides students with the technical skills required to plan and implement a data warehouse using a database management system. It describes basic data warehousing concepts. The course covers design and implementation of data marts and operational data stores. Topics include dimensional data modeling for warehouses, CUBES and storage modes including MOLAP, ROLAP, and HOLAP, and data warehousing infrastructure and analytical service tool selection. This course involves designing a data warehousing system and the implementation of a database with a star schema, gathering data from primary data sources, transforming data, and loading it into a database management system. Students create cubes using OLAP and analyze cube data using client applications.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Roger Blake: Roger.Blake@umb.edu


COMPUTER FORENSICS in the COLLEGE of MANAGEMENT

Have you heard about viruses, hackers and identity theft?  Or wondered how it is that cyber criminals so frequently and easily steal, scam, spam, and harm using computers?  Or, what can law enforcement and organizations do in the fight against cyber-crime?  The U.S. Department of Justice reports that in 2005, 67% of 7,818 businesses detected at least one cyber-attack (National Computer Security Survey (NCSS), 2006), and is in the rise. Organizations take preventive measures are taken to prevent criminals from committing crimes. Yet, cyber-criminals still manage to break in.

Once a breach has been identified, experts use specialized tools to analyze the current state of the system and take appropriate measures, including gathering data that could be used in legal proceedings. Computer Forensics is a discipline within forensics science that combines elements of law and information technology to collect and analyze data from computer systems, networks, wireless communications, and storage devices in a way that is admissible as evidence in a court of law. Computer forensics is also the process of using scientific knowledge for collecting, analyzing, and presenting digital evidence to the courts.

The College of Management (CM) is offering new courses in Computer Forensics and Information Security. The value of Computer Forensics and digital evidence handling methods has been recognized by both public (e.g. FBI, Secret Service, Military) and private organizations.

Job Opportunities

With the increase use of computers to commit crimes and growing demand for computer-based data in civil proceedings, a need has rapidly developed for forensic experts to extract useful information from computer evidence. Both industry and government are eagerly looking for job candidates with computer forensics and security skills.

Graduates with Computer Forensics skills will possess the knowledge of systems, investigative techniques, and technical and presentation skills to produce and present digital evidence for investigation and legal proceedings. Related career paths include: Chief Security Officer, IT Security Administrator, Computer Forensics Examiner, Computer Forensics Analyst, Cybersecurity Consultant, e-Discovery Project Manager.

COURSES OFFERED

The College of Management (CM) will offer a new course in Computer Forensics in the Fall: Digital Forensics/Malware Analysis (IT 421) [see description below].  As a unique opportunity, we are offering this course to all CM and CSM students.

IT 421 – Digital Forensics/Malware Analysis

This course provides an introduction to advanced digital forensics topics relating to malicious software (malware) and its analysis. Malware (virus, worms, rootkits, spam. etc) represents an increasing information security threat to computer systems and networks. Students will review software engineering design fundamentals and reverse engineering techniques utilized to conduct static and dynamic forensic analysis on computer systems and networks on multiple platforms (e.g.Windows, Linux. etc). Students will learn about the importance of forensic principles, legal considerations, digital evidence controls, and documentation of forensic procedures in the context of malware. In addition, students will study remediation measures for malware infection.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Professor Jean-Pierre Kuilboer: jeanpierre.kuilboer@umb.edu

Professor Jonathan Kim: jonathan.kim@umb.edu