InFo Sec, the legal side, laws and policies. Market for this? Program Im considering

Heny '06

Greetings all, I heard of a new program UMD Law School is providing where you would obtain a master degree in law [MSL]. They have different tracks, one being Information Security. This program is more focused on the laws of info security. As it mentions on the site, “Maryland Carey Law’s MSL in Cybersecurity is designed for those who must deal or wish to deal with the legal and public policy aspects of cybersecurity in their jobs.” You would take legal writing classes, along with legal research. At the end your trained in the law of info sec, the regulations and policies. There are other core courses as well.

I’m interested in this, as I have a few InfoSec certs, along with working in a Law Firm, Legal IT if you want to call it. My goal would be to leverage these skills to eventually move into a SME position with my firm or may be another firm. I think the training could give you various avenues to head down, if you want.

I guess my question to you all is what are your thoughts on our IT Pro's knowing the laws or Cyber Security. As most certs isn't many technical and my be high level policies and procedures?

Thoughts?

636-555-3226

I'd compare & contrast with just going to law school for the JD & specializing in infosec law as much as you can. Plenty of market opportunities compared to regular old plain-jane lawyers

joneno

That's interesting, although I don't think you need a law degree to write security policies, standards and procedures.

jeremywatts2005

@Joneno you would be surprised in larger corporations you sometimes have a lawyer or two maybe even a paralegal on staff helping write security policy, standards and procedures. The reason you do this is to ensure if someone is terminated because of one of them there are no loop holes for them to sue or come back on the company for wrongful termination. I have seen this countless times in the big corporate world. I also have seen HR folks assigned as reviewers as well on those policies or are involved in writing them. Yeah when you talk big corporate world these things are necessary especially with our current situation in the United States. Everyone is sue happy and looking for a way to say it was the companies fault not theirs. A termination could mean someone not working for a long long time because what is a question on the application usually "Have you ever been terminated or fired from a position recently" or "Have your resigned due to a impending termination or firing" Yeah if you are fired you are not going to take it lightly and you are going to fight. Better make sure you have legal and HR involved in those writings protect your rear.

Heny '06

Yes, you need to know the law and how the law is interpreted, also you need to know how the laws can effect your company on data breaches etc. The program is more legal centric then technical. But there are courses dealing with cyber crime and NSA etc. I just think its a good skill set to know if you indeed see your self ultimately in an exec. position or where you are handling policies procedures, because you need to know the laws and the legal jargon that goes along with it. And you rally cant get this training from a cert, in my opinion.

joneno

Good points Jeremy and Henry. I guess I'll be losing my job to attorneys pretty soon.

TeKniques

You can still write the policies, procedures, standards, guidelines, etc. but in a perfect world they would go to legal for review before being implemented. Funny thing though ... that's definitely not the case in the majority of SMBs.

joneno

At my organization we have a committee/governance group that includes various departments (legal included). I write, they chew it, shred and finalize. If I don't write it, they definitely don't want to.

Kreken

I just read a little about it on the university's site. It's a new program and etc and etc... went to Q&A section.

Will I be eligible to sit for the bar exam after completion of the MSL program?
No. The MSL program is designed for working professionals who desire education in the law without becoming practicing lawyers. MSL graduates will not be eligible to sit for any bar exam.

If it was me, I would just go straight for JD.