The announcement came from Andrew Phillips, academic dean of the Naval Academy, after the institution’s quarterly Board of Visitors meeting.
Writing for the Naval Academy’s public affairs department, Jessica Clark said that the decision to bolster cybersecurity education was made in response to the Navy’s establishment of its Fleet Cyber Command/10th Fleet, and to show that “the academy is taking steps to ensure that future graduates are given the skills and knowledge necessary to operate effectively” in today’s digital environment.
The Fleet Cyber Command, Infosecurity notes, became operational in November 2010, when the Navy re-commissioned the former German U-boat hunting force, which was disbanded following World War II.
The Fleet was reconstructed to help “raise information to the forefront of the Navy’s 21st century arsenal”, noted Vice Adm. Bernard McCullough III, commander of the Fleet Cyber Command. The Fleet Cyber Command is located in Ft. Meade, Md., about an hours’ drive from the Naval Academy campus in Annapolis.
The Naval Academy has already established a Center for Cyber Security Studies, launched in December 2009, which allowed students, faculty and staff to bolster their security education. Now the Academy’s Computer Science department will offer two pilot courses on “Cryptography and Network Security” and “Computer Forensics”.
“We think experiences like [this] will be crucial for recruiting midshipmen into the field in the future, especially for those who might not have thought of this as a warfare specialty”, Phillips remarked.
The Naval Academy will also offer an elective course on “Fundamentals of Cybersecurity”, which can be taken by students within any major.
“We’ve been working hard to get a number of initiatives relating to cybersecurity in place”, Phillips added. “It’s a work in progress.”