MS in Digital Forensics
A 30-credit master's built as a 21-credit core plus either a named concentration or nine elective credits, with concentrations including penetration testing and reverse engineering.
Type: Degree & academicStudentsWorking practitioners
Offered by George Mason University
The facts
- Cost
- Not published on the catalogue page we read; GMU directs readers to a separate tuition-and-fees page we could not retrieve. We therefore state no figure — check GMU's tuition page for the current rate and your residency.Figure read 2026-09-12 from catalog.gmu.edu/colleges-schools/engineering-computing/engineering/electrical-computer/digital-forensics-ms
- Prerequisites
- A bachelor's from an accredited institution in engineering, mathematics, science, computer science, quantitative business, economics or another analytical field, or equivalent analytical work experience. Minimum 3.00 undergraduate GPA. Some admits are required to take 3 to 12 credits of preliminary coursework.
- Format
- 30 credits: a 21-credit required core plus either a concentration or 9 elective credits.
- Length
- 30 credits.
- Renewal
- No renewal or recertification requirement is published for this entry.
- Accreditation
- A public research university with institutional accreditation. No FEPAC or programme-specific NSA CAE-CD designation appeared in the catalogue text we read; GMU is separately known for cybersecurity designations, so verify against the CAE community's own directory rather than this page.
- Who it suits
- Someone targeting the federal and defence-contractor market around Washington DC who wants a technically deep, dedicated forensics master's.
- Audience
- Students · Working practitioners
- Official page
- dfor.gmu.edu
Strengths
- A dedicated digital forensics master's with a substantial 21-credit core, so the specialism is the spine rather than a garnish.
- Concentrations in penetration testing and reverse engineering give a real technical depth option.
- Located in the Washington DC area, which is the densest market in the world for federal and contractor forensics work.
Limitations
- Tuition is not on the programme page, so the cost cannot be assessed without a second lookup and depends on residency.
- A 3.00 GPA floor, and some admits must complete up to 12 credits of preliminary coursework before starting — a hidden cost in both money and time.
- No more than 6 credits of C grades are permitted and a 3.00 GPA must be maintained, which is a stricter progression rule than most.
- We could not confirm a programme-level federal designation from the pages we read.
Sources
Costs, prerequisites and exam formats in this field change often, and several providers price by region, cohort or employer agreement. Every figure on this page carries the date it was read and a link to the page it was read from. Confirm current terms with the provider before you spend anything.