Graduate Certificate in Information Assurance and Biometrics
This program is offered to WVU students, government personnel (military and civilian), and contractor personnel who meet the program acceptance requirements. Potential career options for students completing this certificate program are in security related fields most likely
in the military, banking industry, or within various law enforcement agencies.
Program Description
The graduate level Information Assurance and Biometrics Certificate Program at West Virginia University (WVU) provides a student-centered learning
environment to educate and train professionals to meet the changing needs of the industry, government, and academia in West Virginia and the nation.
The graduate level Information Assurance and Biometrics Certificate Program offered at WVU provides a broad overview of the information assurance and biometrics field and addresses relative and recent advances and current research issues. It is interdisciplinary in nature and covers many educational materials. Included are the elements of biometrics technology, system security engineering, and principles of trusted systems. The course
content of this program emphasizes ethical, economic, social, and legal impacts of biometrics technologies and information assurance techniques.
The goal of the graduate level 15 Credit Hour Information Assurance and Biometrics Certificate Program is to provide students with the following:
- A solid understanding of biometrics technology, system security principles, and their scientific foundations, and
- An awareness of the social, psychological, ethical, and legal policies and requirements in the field of
information assurance and biometrics (IAB), and
- The ability to communicate with professionals in the wide range of public services, including law enforcement,
military, science and who employ the principles and techniques of IAB.
The coursework includes 15 credit hours of classes. As part of the certificate coursework, students will be expected to take four (4) required classes, and choose the fifth class between two approved electives. Titles of the required classes are:
- BIOM 426. Concepts in Biometric Systems
- CS 465. Introduction to Computer Security
- STAT 536. Forensic Statistics
- BIOM 693. Advanced Biometrics
The fifth class can be selected from the following list of approved electives:
- CS 665. Computer and Network Security
- EE 465. Digital Image Processing
A&B. Admission and Performance
General admission requirements (applicable to all
students applying to enroll into the IAB certificate program):
- One year of college level calculus (comparable in content to MATH 155, Calculus
I, and MATH 156, Calculus II, at WVU).
- Calculus based introductory knowledge of statistics (comparable in content to
STAT 215, Intro to Probability and Statistics, at WVU).
- BS degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Management Information
Systems, or physical/experimental sciences.
Specific (discipline) requirements (can be fulfilled
by adequate past coursework or equivalent work experience):
- Introductory level knowledge of computer science (comparable in content to CS
110, Intro to CS, and CS 111, Data Structures, at WVU). This requirement
implies the demonstrable ability of an individual to program in at least one
high-level programming language.
- General knowledge of computer system concepts (comparable in content to CS 350,
Computer System Concepts, at WVU).
Performance
The certificate program requires that students take
and successfully complete five regular (one semester long) classes. Minimal
class completion grade is C. The grade point average in all certificate
classes must be no worse than 3.0 (B or higher).
This certificate program course of study can be taken
by non-degree graduate students. We plan to maintain the academic records of
these non-degree graduate students in the college/school graduate records
office as well as in the files of the department offering the
certificate. Should any of these non-degree students later decide to
pursue a graduate degree in the department awarding the certificate, they must
formally apply to the degree program and their credentials must conform to the
limits established for the transfer of credit obtained by non-degree students.
Namely, a maximum of 12 credits obtained by a non-degree student can be applied
towards any degree.
C. Courses and Examination
The following four courses are required:
BIOM 426 Concepts in Biometric Systems
The objective of this course is to present an
introduction to the principles of operation, design, testing, and
implementation of biometric systems and the legal, social, and ethical concerns
associated with their use. Students will be introduced to a variety of
techniques used in identification and verification of individuals, the
physiological basis of these techniques, and the algorithms and statistical
methods employed to achieve acceptable false-accept and false-reject ratios.
Major and emerging biometric technologies, testing and evaluation, standards,
and case studies will be discussed. The course is structured to provide
an overview of the topics that will comprise the IAB Certificate and to meet
the education needs of the students.
STAT 516 Forensic Statistics:
The
objective of this course is to present an understanding of the role that statistics
plays in forensic and identification science.
Students will be introduced to a variety of statistical methods that are used
in this discipline. Specifically, probabilistic models of evidence and
uniqueness are studied. Students will be exposed to case studies of the
use of statistics for identification.
CS 465 Introduction to Computer Security:
The
objective of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive overview
of the threats to computer security, technologies for security assurance and
engineering approaches to security solutions.
BIOM 693 Advanced Biometrics
The course introduces students to advanced topics in
biometrics and information assurance and provides hands-on experience with
collection, storage, image processing, matching algorithms, statistics,
encryption, and public acceptance of biometric signatures. Instruction
will include lab experience.
In addition, students will choose one of the following
courses:
CS 665 Computer and System Security:
The
objective of this course is to describe modern approaches to information and
system security, including an in-depth coverage of encryption techniques and
security protocols, contemporary trusted computing base and intrusion detection
techniques.
EE 465 Digital Image Processing
The
objective is to introduce students to the fundamental topics in digital image
processing, and to give them some experience using the mathematical techniques
of image processing by doing assignments that involve actual biometric digital
images and MATLAB toolset.
Capstone Project
A capstone project will be required as part of the Advanced Biometrics
course. Advanced Biometrics is a required capstone course taken after
Concepts in Biometric Systems and Information Assurance (BIOM 426), Introduction
to Computer Security (CS 465), and Forensic Statistics (STAT 5165). This
course includes a once-a-week advanced topics seminar series and a three-hour
laboratory. The laboratory will have both formal laboratory exercises and
time devoted to the project. The project will provide the students with
an opportunity to integrate the knowledge gained from the core courses to the
program. The project description is as follows:
- The student's
first task will be to choose a scenario for implementation of a biometric
system. Examples of scenarios include: door security, individual
laptops, user authentication in network of personal computers, ATM
applications, airport screening of employees, and identification of passengers
at airports. Students can instead develop their own scenario, pending
approval from the instructor. The first part of the project will be to
develop the details and specifications of the scenario including such issues as
number of people, one-to-one or one-to-many matching, number of systems, etc.
- The major part of the project will be to select and evaluate a biometric system for the above
scenario. The students must choose from systems, which are available in
the laboratory, excluding fingerprint systems, since most of their laboratories
are focused on this modality. The systems may include voice, facial
thermograph, facial recognition, hand geometry, iris, and smart card.
- Data on the following biometric system attributes, ease of use, universality, false
accept/false reject ratio, acceptance, longevity, template storage
confidentiality, template integrity, authentication protocols, and comparative
studies, should be collected and analyzed along with a methodology by which
these attributes can be measured. The data and analysis should be
included in the written project report due at the end of the course.
D. Program Outcomes
Program graduates should possess:
- Ability to apply a variety of techniques in identification
and verification of individuals, understand the physiological basis of these
techniques, and the algorithms and statistical methods used in the field.
- Ability to apply the principles of system security, understand the strengths
and weaknesses of specific security policies/tools and their scientific
foundations.
- Awareness of the social, psychological, ethical and legal policies and
requirements in the field of IAB.
- Ability to communicate with professionals in the wide range of public services,
including law enforcement, military, science and technology.
