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Computer Crimes Major

Cyberattacks are becoming more complex and frequent, costing organizations billions of dollars every year. Preventing cybercrimes is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. More companies and government agencies seek to hire cybersecurity professionals with the specialized skills required to manage systems and to investigate and prevent cyberattacks.

Program Overview

The Computer Crimes degree focuses on the skills and competencies necessary to work in the popular fields of cybercrime investigations and digital forensics. You will learn the basic concepts of criminology and the legal practices of criminal investigations and evidence collection. The integration of database and informational systems courses into this major helps build a foundation of computer science programming and critical thinking skills. Courses such as Cyber Security and Data Mining will help you explore some of the technologies used in cyber and technology crimes. Projects appropriate to your area of interest will be incorporated into your studies. Graduates of this program may work in law enforcement, or as forensic examiners or security analysts.

Program Concentrations

This program is made up of the following concentrations. Learn more about concentrations.

Concentration Overview

The Criminology concentration is designed for students interested in general studies in crime and law, and for those that might pursue careers in social work, victim advocacy, or advanced legal studies.

Concentration Overview

This concentration focuses on data mining and data handling.

Concentrations on this page are required for this program. Additional courses or concentrations may need to be added to meet program or credit requirements.

Program Coursework

The specific degree requirements on the website are for illustrative purposes and may change at any time. Please contact the Registrar's Office, Academic Advising or refer to the course catalog for detailed program requirements.

Liberal Arts Core

The Liberal Arts Core Curriculum is rooted in the Liberal Arts and our Franciscan heritage. It is designed to create a framework to develop knowledge, skills, and responsibilities necessary to educate students so that they will be prepared to contribute to the world guided by a concern for issues of justice and ethical behavior.

LEADERSHIP:  4 credits
  • Freshman Seminar (1 cr.)
  • Spiritual & Ethical Literacy (3 cr.) 
FOUNDATIONAL LITERACIES/SKILLS:  12 credits
  • Personal Branding Communication (3 cr.)
  • Writing for the 21st Century (3 cr.)*
  • Quantitative Problem Solving (3 cr.)*
  • Language & Culture (3 cr.)
*For ‘Writing for the 21st Century’ (English) and ‘Quantitative Problem Solving’ (Math), you may need additional courses depending on your placement.

CORE LITERACIES:  15 credits – Choose one (1) course from each broad theme. Course options can be found in the course catalog or on the academic advising page. Broad themes are:
  • Narratives of Identity       (3 cr.)
  • Science, Environment & Culture (3 cr.)   
  • Social Tensions (3 cr.)    
  • The American Experience (3 cr.)
  • Approving the Better Things (3 cr.)

Professional Core

Culminating Experience

Giving students a culminating experience as well as practical work experience, the Professional Core is a graduation requirement for every Stritch student in a bachelor’s degree program. This bachelor’s degree program includes completion of the Professional Core consisting of three courses:
  • Pre-Internship
  • Internship
  • Capstone
Man sitting at computer

Computer Crime majors can expect to develop skills in the following areas:

  • Strong written and verbal communication
  • Mathematics and logic
  • Criminology concepts
  • Legal practices and technical skills

Students will be exposed to modern concepts in a variety of courses ranging from topics of criminology, cybersecurity, information systems, and foundational computer science.

Related areas of focus.

Students will acquire the soft and technical skills employers require.

  • Criminal Justice issues
  • Cyber Laws
  • Computer Crime Investigations
  • Cyber Security
  • Programming
  • Database Management Systems
  • Data Mining
  • Digital Forensics
  • Programming Language (Python, Java C#)
Woman on Computer

Computer Crime Jobs

Graduates of this program have worked in law enforcement, finance and banking, data forensics, security analysts, government agencies and other companies.

Additional Career Opportunities
  • Computer Forensics Investigator
  • Computer Forensics Technician
  • Information Security Analyst
  • Information Systems Security Analyst
  • Forensic Computer Analyst
  • Security Consultant
Contact admissions or the program faculty with questions about this program.

Admissions

Alex J. Pezewski

Faculty - Computer Science