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Shawn is an full Professor of Management Information Systems (MIS) in the School of Business Administration at the University of Montana. He earned an MBA from the University of Montana in 1990 and his doctorate in Higher Education and Technology Leadership from the University of Montana in 2001. Shawn completed a Post-Doc in MIS at Washington State University. He teaches courses on networking, e-Commerce, project management, systems analysis & design, and multimedia development. His research interests include information privacy, website usability, utilizing technology for teaching and learning, and the technology issues related to e-Commerce and business processes.

Current Position

Professor and Chair of MIS and Cybersecurity

Courses Taught

BMIS472/502 Cybersecurity Management Capstone Course 

Cybersecurity Assessment Project:

I teach a Cybersecurity class in the College of Business at the University of Montana called BMIS472/502 Cybersecurity Management Capstone.  I’ve been working with LMG Security in Missoula to teach the students how to do a proper cybersecurity assessment and risk analysis for organizations.  The final project for this semester is to have teams of three or four students work with an area non-profit, school, or small business to conduct a cybersecurity and risk assessment and make recommendations to improve cybersecurity.  I need six non-profits, schools, small businesses, or government entities this semester.  

In the past, my students worked with the Downtown Missoula Partnership, Missoula Foodbank, Habitat Missoula, Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes IT group, Ecology Project International, Missoula Aging Services, CFAC, Missoula YMCA, Garden City Harvest, Aware-Inc, Montana High Tech Business Alliance, Missoula International School, Missoula Urban Development Project, Montana Natural History Center, Open Aid Alliance, United Way, Home Resources, CASA Missoula, Bright Ways Learning, Ravalli Aging Services, Missoula County IT, Families First, North Dakota IT, Run Wild Missoula, St. Josephs School, Wise River School, the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center, Missoula Homeword, Helena College, Mansfield Library, UM College of Business, Great Falls Schools, Columbia Falls Schools, Lolo Schools, Florance Schools, Great Falls IT, Missoula Children’s Theater, Capsourse.io, NetVR, MyCareerSpan, Missoula Chamber of Commerce, and CASA of Yellowstone County.  I’m sure each of these organizations would be willing to visit with you about their experience.  I’ve cc’d them on this message.

Here is a list of activities the students will be doing and the time commitment for your organization.

The students will do the following activities (The student teams can do the assessment remote via Zoom as long as there is someone from the organization that can consistently meet with them):
1)      Review your appropriate plans & business documents.
2)      Interview appropriate management, technical staff, and client serving staff.
3)      Conduct a NIST cybersecurity assessment.
4)      Conduct some technical vulnerability tests on your network (only if you agree to have these done).
5)      Analyze the results of the NIST assessment (and vulnerability tests if done) to identify eight to ten risks.
6)      Make recommendations on four to five key risks for how to improve cybersecurity in your organization.
7)      Present their findings in a 30-minute presentation the week of May 4th and May 8th.
8)      Provide a report that outlines the assessment, risks, findings, and recommendations.

The time commitment is as follows:
1)      A few hours to gather business plans and documents.
2)      A few hours for interviews with key management, technical, and client facing staff.  Students will also do a physical or virtual walkthrough of your facility.
3)      A few hours for vulnerability tests and scanning (only if you want this done).
4)      A preliminary meeting on risks & findings.
5)      A 30-minute presentation the week of May 4th and May 8th.  If that week doesn’t work, we could do the presentation the week of April 27 to May 3rd.
6)      Ten minutes to complete an online survey at the end telling me how you felt the students did on this cybersecurity consulting engagement.

Please let me know if you are interested in having a team of students do this cybersecurity and risk assessment for your organization.  If you would like to visit with me about this project, feel free to call me on my cell 406-544-2246 or office 406-243-5985.  If it won’t work for you this semester, I will be teaching this class next spring as well.  

I’m also interested in referrals to other non-profits, educational organizations, government entities or small businesses that you think might be interested.  Thanks for considering this request.

Take care,
Shawn