E-business curricula and cybercrime: A continuing error of omission?

Abstract

The growth of e-business has been accompanied by even faster increases in losses from security breaches, legal problems, and cybercrime. These unnecessary costs inhibit the growth and efficiency of e-business worldwide. Professional education in e-business can help address these problems by providing students with coursework aimed at them. The present study extends research begun in 2007 on course coverage of law, security, and ethics in e-business master’s programs. Data were collected from university web sites in 2010 on 104 e-business master’s curricula worldwide and compared with 2007 data. Results suggest no significant coverage changes and a majority of program curricula still lack courses in law, security, or ethics. Coverage of these topics did not apparently increase from 2007 to 2010 despite the rapid acceleration of cybercrime during the same period. However the change in coverage of topics related to cybercrime varied by region of the world in which e-business degree programs are based.