New Information Systems Security minor gives a business focus to data security

University of Michigan-Dearborn’s College of Business will offer a new Information Systems Security minor beginning this winter as a response to the growing digitization of business data. 

The 15-credit minor may not have been essential to business five years ago, but it is today, said Information Systems Management Associate Professor Jun He. 

“Although businesses have always known there’s a security risk when going digital, having a formal education on the subject is becoming more and more in demand. There have been some really dramatic incidents and people are more aware of the importance of security,” said He, citing data breaches at Target and EquiFax that affected millions of people.

He said everyone—from industry to students—asked for the College of Business to add a security-focused program. The Information Systems Management faculty worked together to create new courses and to devise a specific focus for the minor.

“There will be foundational knowledge on security technologies and discussion of many business cases to understand best practices for securing information,” he said. 

“Looking at business cases, behavior of employees or poor management is just as important as the security feature itself. We’ll look at what behavior is proper and what behavior is vulnerable to attacks.”

Other program topics will include information systems management, social networking analysis, digital security management,  and networking and collaborative computing.

He said the minor can apply beyond the business field too.

“We are living in a digital world—our medical and government records, our purchases, our communication,” he said. “Nearly all of our industries, to varying degrees, center around data. This program will help students learn how to best secure and protect data in our digitized environment.”