Cybersecurity Innovation and Research Center

The Cybersecurity Laboratory is the latest addition to Hofstra's portfolio of world-class facilities. Built at the cost of $1.35 million, the lab is the centerpiece of the Cybersecurity program, a joint initiative between the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Information Systems & Business Analytics (ISBAN).

The Cybersecurity Innovation and Research Center is a specialized facility for training the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. The lab provides an immersive environment with industry-standard tools, hands-on cyberwarfare exercises, and dedicated systems for cybersecurity education and research. Students engage in real-world offense and defense scenarios and simulations in a virtual environment to learn common types of attacks, proactive cyber defense strategies, principles of risk management, and incident response practices. The cyber range allows students to directly engage in exercises and learn first-hand how to prevent, respond to, and mitigate threats and cyber attacks from viruses, worms, rootkits, ransomware, and other malware.

Technology

The Cybersecurity Innovation and Research Center consists of an advanced computer laboratory and datacenter. Hofstra University has partnered with industry leaders, including Rapid7, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, and VMware, to bring professional tools and technologies to the ‘war room’ lab environment. The Cybersecurity War Room features 36 high-end workstations, 5 large wall-mount displays, Cisco networking hardware, servers, and IoT devices. The adjacent mini datacenter houses the lab’s infrastructure with an isolated network and dedicated internet connection. To engage in exercises and training scenarios, students are given remote access to the cyber range platform and the lab’s virtual environment hosted in the datacenter.

Circadence Project Ares – a fully immersive, game-ified, AI-powered cybersecurity learning platform
Metasploit Pro – professional penetration testing software, made available to Hofstra students through Hofstra University’s partnership with Rapid7
On-premise virtualization environment – a virtual environment built on VMware vSphere
Cyber Range environment – a virtual cyber range environment powered by Silensec
Cisco networking hardware – routers, switches, and firewalls
Cellebrite UFED Touch2 – software used by law enforcement, military, and intelligence agencies to protect, extract and maintain the integrity of data on a mobile device.
CryptTool2 – e-learning cryptology software that detects items that are not strictly malicious but pose some sort of risk to the user.
Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) headsets, smart speakers, and drones

Courses

The following courses are offered in or utilize the Cybersecurity lab:

Note: Always check the Hofstra Bulletin for current course offerings, prerequisites, and availability.

CSC 015S - Fundamentals of Cybersecurity
CSC 115/215 - Ethical Hacking
CSC 007, 143V/291E - Cybersecurity for Everyone
CSC 175/284 - Networking & Distributed Processing
CSC 188/288 - Network Security
IT 124/224 - Information & Network Security, Protection/Prevention Strategies
IT 132/226 - Digital Forensics
IT 120/220 - Business Computer Networks, Data Communication
IT 128/228 - IT Security and Risk Management, Crisis Management

The BS in Computer Science and Cybersecurity prepares students for careers in security and software development in a variety of computing fields across multiple industries. The program allows students to more fully explore aspects of system programming, network security, Linux system administration, ethical hacking and more. Read more

Degree Requirements

The MS in Cybersecurity is designed to prepare students for careers in cybersecurity. The program provides students with both a theoretical foundation and practical experiences. Coursework addresses cybersecurity from the perspectives of data, software, systems, organizational/societal security, and privacy.