Cybersecurity degrees in New York — Your guide to choosing a school

This guide outlines the cybersecurity opportunities available in New York. There are numerous educational and professional programs and options available in New York, and the state’s cybersecurity is expanding.

Cybersecurity is a rapidly growing field and arguably may become one of the more important fields in the new, digital-focused economy within the next couple of decades. As such, young professionals wanting to choose a lucrative and important field for their career future may naturally gravitate toward cybersecurity, and they’d be right to. It’s already known to be a field where you can make lots of money and which has plenty of open positions.

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Featured Cybersecurity Degree Programs

• Associate degree
• Bachelor’s degree
• Master’s degree
• Cybersecurity certifications

New York is one of the busiest and most advanced economic centers in the entire world, so it’s a great place to obtain a cybersecurity education. 

Cybersecurity development in New York

Cybersecurity in New York is a big deal for more than one reason. For starters, New York is home to the most important stock exchange in the world, which necessitates a high amount of cybersecurity right off the bat. 

Furthermore, many of the wealthiest companies, some of whom influence world politics or economics on a global scale, make their home in the Big Apple. As a result, New York is a prime employer for cybersecurity professionals, as they have a vested interest in making sure that their data is as secure as possible.

The incident on 9/11 was another incident that boosted cybersecurity importance across the board. The terrorist attacks of that day are still fresh in the minds of many New Yorkers and their educational institutions. As a result, New York has always been on the cutting edge of cybersecurity development and seems positioned to lead the way toward many new cybersecurity innovations or policies in the near future.

But New York is also an attractive state for its sheer economic variety. It has one of the most powerful economies in the entire country (and an economy that can dwarf the GDP of entire nations). As a result, there’s a huge array of digital-era jobs available for aspiring cybersecurity workers. Fields include finance, healthcare, media and entertainment, leisure, or even shipping. All of these industries will eventually need some form of cybersecurity to stay competitive.

New York features a growing startup ecosystem valued at $1.2 billion and is the headquarters of 45 Fortune 500 companies. It’s also the home of several cybersecurity organizations and groups, such as Cyber NYC. Other possible benefits include the International Conference on Cybersecurity, which is hosted by Fordham University and the FBI. It’s a great place to network or learn more about the cybersecurity field.

The New York Metro Joint Cybersecurity Conference is a great place to talk shop, and the New York Cybersecurity Conference brings cybersecurity professionals from all across the world together under one roof. There is also the exclusive New York Cybersecurity Summit, which is geared toward executives and other industry leaders. 

Put simply, New York has always been the place for people that want to be in the middle of the action. That hasn’t changed one bit with cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity education in New York

Because of the business and national security mindsets present in many New Yorkers, it’s no surprise that cybersecurity education in the state is very developed. In fact, New York was one of the first states to think about cybersecurity in a serious way, both due to the stock exchange and 9/11. As a result, many of its institutes of higher education at cybersecurity programs or majors.

Eleven of the state’s schools are recognized as NSA/DHS Centers of Academic Excellence. These recognitions are important for the school and for their student body, as they mark the university in question as a site to locate and recruit new cybersecurity professionals for government cybersecurity work. New York has the fourth most number of schools with NSA CAE certification in the country.

The New York Institute of Technology is one great example of the cybersecurity educational development taking place currently; the university is building a new cybersecurity facility on Long Island. 

In addition, StartUP NY is a government initiative designed to establish a tax-free zone for various businesses that take up space within that facility. Needless to say, this is a good sign of rapid cybersecurity development and employment opportunities in the near future.

The military academy West Point is located in New York, and it features the Army Cyber Institute. This Institute alone helps organize several cybersecurity conferences or organizations and is a great attractor for new cybersecurity talent across the state and country. Studying cybersecurity in New York offers you a better chance of getting the attention of those at the Army Cyber Institute.

Associate degree

Campus-based cybersecurity associate’s degrees in New York

Associate degrees are a great starting point for those who want to build a career in cybersecurity. They normally incorporate lots of general education requirements with only a few specialized classes. But they do provide a solid foundation for cybersecurity concepts and are often required to proceed to a bachelor’s degree.

An associate’s degree is a two-year program at a college or university that offers entry-level training (the curriculum equivalent of the first and second year of a four-year degree) for students looking for some level of education beyond a high school diploma.

Online cybersecurity associate degrees in New York

New York only has two universities that offer online cybersecurity degrees, one of which is Rockland Community College (RCC). Rockland is a great starting point for many cybersecurity professionals to take classes both in-person and online and put them toward the same degree.

The other online university is Westchester Community College (WCC), which provides an associate’s degree in cybersecurity entirely online.

Bachelor’s degree

Campus-based bachelor’s degrees

Bachelor’s degrees are where one’s specialization in the subject truly comes to the forefront and where students can choose an emphasis or specialization even further in the cybersecurity field. Bachelor’s degrees are often the minimum degree required to obtain a position in the cybersecurity industry or a company.

As mentioned before, New York has a huge number of universities that offer bachelor’s degrees in cybersecurity or a related field. Of these schools, Syracuse University is one of the best, and it’s been recognized by Military Times as the best school for cybersecurity in 2018. As previously mentioned, West Point is a well-known university that offers bachelor’s degrees in cybersecurity and a plethora of career or further education opportunities.

Online bachelor’s degrees

New York also has a high number of online bachelor’s degree options; in fact, there are only a couple more on-campus locations than online ones. Hilbert College is particularly well known for its online cybersecurity offerings, largely because its program provides students with lots of opportunities for specialization. This is helpful because it can prepare you to work in a specific cybersecurity field or position within a company. It also offers dual degree options if you want to boost your employability or potentially work for the US government.

Berkeley College is another excellent choice, and it has a specialized national security program that can help students get into a government job through the University. Pace offers a cybersecurity degree with a computer forensics concentration, which might be a perfect fit for students that want to combine criminal justice with their skills with a keyboard.

Master’s Degrees

Campus-based cybersecurity master’s degrees

Master’s degrees are often the final stop for higher education when it comes to cybersecurity. These degrees allow students to specialize even further or may have you pivot into a research-oriented position. 

Like with bachelor’s degrees, New York has plenty of on-campus options for aspiring cybersecurity professionals. Rochester Institute of technology is a solid choice, as they offer multiple master-level degrees in various computer science or cybersecurity specializations. The aforementioned New York Institute of Technology may be an even smarter choice, especially since they are developing a business center right on their campus at Long Island.

Online master’s degrees

There are lots of options to pursue a master’s degree in cybersecurity online. Fordham University is an excellent part-time choice as it incorporates both weekend classes and online lectures to allow more busy students to still finish their education while continuing to work. 

Syracuse University allows students to further specialize in the cybersecurity field, as can New York University. Finally, Utica College offers several MBA programs that allow students to specialize in cybersecurity, even for students that don’t have a computer science background already. This might be an ideal option for people looking for management roles.

Certifications

Campus-based certificate programs in New York

Certificates in cybersecurity come in two flavors: those that give a taste of the subject and teach a few cool skills to put on your resume, and those that let you further specialize your cybersecurity knowledge. New York can provide both.

Pace University is a great choice for students that want to pursue certificates in a campus setting, although these are graduate-level certificates designed for current cybersecurity graduates who are working professionals.

Online Certificate Programs

Excelsior College has both of the above certificate types offered to students, as do many of the community colleges in the greater New York area. Rochester Institute of Technology provides another alternative, as it offers several advanced certificates in information assurance and related subjects or more basic certificates that teach the more technical basics about cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity jobs in New York

Cybersecurity jobs in New York are plentiful, to say the least. According to CyberSeek, there are currently 31,687 open cybersecurity jobs in New York alone, and 60,172 currently employed cybersecurity professionals. 

These jobs range from entry-level positions like cybersecurity engineers and analysts to full-on network engineers and architects or cybersecurity managers and administrators. It’s no surprise that the state requires so many new cybersecurity professionals given the extensive research and business development constantly going on within the state.

But what about cybersecurity salaries in New York? The Bureau of Labor Statistics has lots of data to examine. According to this resource, the average annual salary for Information Security Analysts is $133,210, which is a fair bit higher than the average annual cybersecurity wages in other states across the country.

You do have to take into account New York’s cost of living, however. Naturally, living right in New York City will result in a high salary stretching less than if you find a place up-state. New York’s current cost of living is 187.2 on a scale where 100 is the national average. Put simply, it’s expensive to live in New York, so a high salary is not only appreciated but arguably necessary.

New York and cybersecurity

All in all, New York is a great state in which to be a young cybersecurity professional and an awesome place to pursue your cybersecurity education. Not only do you have lots of excellent universities to choose from (ensuring that your cybersecurity schooling will be top-tier and competitive), but there’s also a plethora of employment opportunities, both government and private, for you to pursue once you’ve graduated.

Ultimately, going to New York to become educated in cybersecurity will likely be a smart move.