Top Cybersecurity Program

IU Bloomington’s first multidisciplinary program—the Online Master of Science in Cybersecurity Risk Management—has been ranked by Fortune as a Best Online Master's in Cybersecurity Degrees in 2022.  

When the program officially launched in 2017, it was the first in the nation to bring together three top-ranked schools to introduce students to the technical, legal, and business dimensions of cybersecurity. It remains the only such program in the nation. Fortune ranks the IU program No. 4 in a field of 20, between Western Governors University (No. 3) and Johns Hopkins University (No. 5).

Scott J. Shackelford was the founding faculty chair of the 30-hour online program, which offers coursework from the Kelley School of Business, the Maurer School of Law, and the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering.

Shackelford is executive director of the Ostrom Workshop, directs the Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance, is the Executive Director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research (CACR), and is a professor of business law and ethics at the Kelley School. He called it an honor and a privilege to serve as inaugural faculty chair of the Online Master of Science in Cybersecurity in Risk Management program, working with program director Joelle Andrew-Mohr and staff member Kristen Kolodzik (preceded in the role by Karen Easter) to grow the online master’s degree from a single graduate in 2018 to 36 graduates in spring of 2022. Currently, there are more than 90 students in program and an entering class of 30+ is slated to start in the fall of 2022.

"I feel right at home in this multi-disciplinary cybersecurity program. Working these past years with the CRM program leadership and the students has been a joy, and as the new Chair I look forward to the continued expansion and success of our top-ranked program,” Kapadia said. Kapadia’s recent inter-disciplinary cybersecurity research focuses on privacy in the era of pervasive digital photography and social media, as well as the ways in which assistive cameras can improve privacy for people with visual impairments.

“I couldn’t be happier that Professor Apu Kapadia has agreed to take on the mantle as our next CRM faculty Chair as my second term of service concludes,”Shackelford said. “He has been involved in the CRM Program for many years and has been integral to all our major initiatives. The program could not be in better hands.”

Since its inception, the IU Online Master of Science in Cybersecurity in Risk Management has added four concentrations—technology, business, law, and artificial intelligence—as well as:  

• dual-degree partnerships (such as the JD/MS and MPA/MS with the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs);  
• the IU Cybersecurity Clinic, which is the only clinic of its kind dedicated to protecting local critical infrastructure providers from cyber attacks; 
• travel-embedded capstone trips to Australia and Estonia;  
• paid internship programs through the Cyber Peace Internship Program (funded by the Hewlett Foundation);  
• a $2.25M IU Bloomington CyberCorps award to support the recruitment and training of the next generation of cybersecurity professionals to help meet the needs of federal, state, and local and tribal government;  
• IU Cyber ROTC; and  
• a dedicated Certified Information Systems Security mentoring program. 

“I’ve been particularly gratified at the tremendous successes of our graduates who have gone on to stellar careers in consulting, government, academia, and the private sector,” Shackelford said. “Cybersecurity has always been a team sport, and as I transition from coach to cheerleader, I’m so grateful for the opportunity to serve, and that Fortune has seen fit to single out the unique strengths of the CRM Program.”