State authorities have approved a new cybersecurity program at George Mason University.
The university said its Department of Cyber Security Engineering will be the first of its kind in the country.
The State Council of Higher Education in Virginia gave Mason approval to establish the department. It will officially launch on March 1.
Mason expects 500 undergraduate students in its school of engineering to be housed in the new department. A proposed master's degree in the same field is still under review by SCHEV.
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University officials say creation of the department is a direct response to the tech community's need for a specific type of cybersecurity worker.
The school says the program curriculum will focus on hardware and software security in areas like health, finance, 5G cellular networks, logistics, autonomous vehicles and the internet of things.
