Cybersecurity and the Social Sciences
Students in CYSE 201S This course addresses the social, political, legal, criminological, and economic dimensions of cybersecurity through a social science framework. Attention is given to the social factors that contribute to cyber incidents and the political and legal mechanisms that are developed to control the behaviors of those who create risks and cybersecurity incidents. The learning outcomes for this course are as follows:
- Compare how basic psychological, sociological, criminological, political, economic, and legal theories and models explain cybersecurity,
- Identify the strengths and weaknesses of those theories in understanding the connections between human behaviors and cybersecurity,
- Define key concepts including cybersecurity, cybercrime, cyber criminology, cyber law, digital forensics, human factors, cyber policy, cyber risk, cyber threats, and cyberwar,
- Identify how professionals in various cybersecurity careers apply these multidisciplinary concepts in their daily routines,
- Describe how hypotheses and research questions are formed in studies addressing cybersecurity through a social science lens,
- Identify how marginalized groups have confronted challenges and concerns related to cybersecurity as well as how these groups have contributed to our understanding about the topic,
- Explain how the application of social science theories, principles, and research strategies have contributed to our understanding of cybersecurity at the societal level.
Course Material
Students in this course have completed a number of activities including weekly discussion boards, weekly technology and cybersecurity journal, article analysis, annotated bibliography, and several quizzes and exams.
Here are the annotated bibliography, article analysis, career paper, and all the journal entries I completed.