The University of North Dakota will be offering three graduate certificates in the area of cyber-security.
One of those certificates will be in the area of “ethical hacking.”
"Using the police analogy, undercover policemen who understand gang warfare," is how North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Hagerott described it to the Board of Higher Education's Academic and Student Affairs Committee.
Hagerott told the Committee the recent hack of a gasoline pipeline that serves the East Coast is an example of the need for “ethical hackers.”
"They understand the hacking, they understand ransom-ware," Hagerott said. "When a company gets hacked, they explain what happens to their company, and they actually make a market for what they have to pay to get their networks back."
Hagerott said that information is then shared with the National Security Agency and other governmental entities.
The other graduate certificates are in secure networks, and for cyber security analysts. The certificates are offered to those students in master's degree and doctoral degree programs.