How an MSL Prepares Cybersecurity Law Students for the Impact of AI

The global artificial intelligence (AI) market is projected to reach more than $1.4 trillion by 2030 (compared to approximately $214 billion in 2024). Individual users and businesses alike now use AI every day: Half of mobile users in the U.S. use voice search daily, and 72% of American companies plan to increase their investment in AI. 

AI will almost certainly confer many benefits; it’s as likely to raise as many challenging legal questions. About three-quarters of surveyed security professionals reported an increase in cyberattacks over the past year, and 85% of those respondents attributed the rise to “bad actors using generative AI.”

These challenges and considerations are creating new career pathways and specialization options for professionals interested in AI, law, and cybersecurity. Continue reading to learn about AI’s potential impact on the cybersecurity industry and how a Master of Studies in Law (MSL) degree can help prepare you for a career at the intersection of cybersecurity and law. 

How Artificial Intelligence Benefits the Cybersecurity Industry

AI is reshaping the cybersecurity industry. Its effectiveness in rapidly analyzing large data sets and identifying patterns makes AI a valuable addition to the cybersecurity toolbox. According to Acumen Research and Consulting, the global market for AI-based cybersecurity products will surge to roughly $135 billion by 2030, up from $15 billion in 2021. 

AI can benefit cybersecurity teams and professionals through the following capabilities: 

• Accurate threat detection: AI can detect attacks more accurately than humans, creating fewer false-positive results. 
• Preventing phishing and social engineering: AI can identify and flag the type of suspicious emails and messages often employed in phishing campaigns.
• Rapid data analysis: AI tools can rapidly analyze vast amounts of incident-related data, enabling security teams to take swift action to contain the threat.
• Prioritizing threats: AI-powered risk analysis can prioritize potential threats based on real-world risks, empowering teams to focus on the most pressing issues. 
• Simulating attacks: AI can be used to simulate social engineering attacks, which helps security teams spot potential vulnerabilities before cybercriminals exploit them. 

However, as with any powerful technology, AI poses risks that demand increased oversight and new or updated laws, creating a need for experts in law and technology to implement the safeguards necessary for a more AI-dependent future.

AI and Cyber Law: Governance, Oversight, and Other Considerations

AI enables organizations to access, manipulate, and analyze extensive data sets more efficiently. However, businesses, legal professionals, and policymakers must balance the potential benefits of AI with the possible dangers of exposing large amounts of sensitive personal information. 

Everyone engaged in the implementation and management of cybersecurity will be impacted. The Federal Government is working to manage AI risks related to its use of AI and seeking to promote responsible AI and security principles and actions. Furthermore, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has published a Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights that identifies five principles that should guide the design, use, and deployment of automated systems to protect the American public in the age of AI. Outside of the U.S., the European Union (EU) recently enacted a new AI regulation that uses a risk-based approach to define rules for specific categories of AI systems. 

Laws and regulations will help create the guardrails to protect classified government information, proprietary business data, and consumer privacy. Governments, institutions, agencies, and businesses will need experts with cybersecurity legal training and AI policy expertise to navigate this changing landscape.  

Preparing for Cybersecurity Law Careers with an MSL Degree

Whether your work involves security or you hope to pivot to a role that encompasses security policy, a Master of Studies in Law (MSL) degree offers a pathway to new job opportunities by providing valuable skills in security implementation and management.

You don’t need a legal background to enroll in an MSL program (sometimes called a Master of Legal Studies (MLS) or a Master of Science in Legal Studies (MSLS). MSL programs are specifically designed for non-lawyers interested in gaining legal knowledge to apply in business, government, the military, or not-for-profit settings. The school’s Washington, D.C., location positions it to capitalize on faculty, visiting lecturers, alumni and professional connections within the federal government and adjacent institutions.

At The George Washington University Law School (GW Law), you can earn your MSL degree 100% online at a part-time or full-time pace. In the process, you’ll gain the expertise you need to lead conversations and initiatives involving legal and regulatory matters easier. The GW Law online MSL program offers three concentrations, of which two relate to cybersecurity. Continue reading to learn more about the MSL curriculum. 

MSL Curriculum Overview: Online Cyber Law Courses 

The GW Law MSL program offers two cybersecurity-law-related concentrations: 

• National Security & Cybersecurity Law focuses on the legal and policy issues surrounding national security, cybersecurity, AI, big data, and new technologies. Students learn how nation-states, individuals, and corporations seek to exploit and protect against vulnerabilities to conduct war or disrupt, destroy, or threaten essential services.
• Government Procurement & Cybersecurity Law prepares government procurement practitioners to address the rising demand for cybersecurity legal expertise.

The program offers the following courses covering cybersecurity law.

Artificial Intelligence Law and Policy 

This course explores the cross-disciplinary legal and policy aspects of AI. It covers AI’s impact on society and the ability of current legal and regulatory frameworks to address issues arising from AI’s use and deployment. Students learn about AI’s development and growth and gain an understanding of the legal, social, ethical, economic, and technical implications related to its use. 

Cybersecurity Law and Policy

This course focuses on issues relating to the internet’s organization and the federal government’s response to cyber threats. It covers legal concepts relating to the private sector and civilian government engagement in cyberspace and explores the application of traditional laws of armed conflict in the new cyber domain.

Cybersecurity Law and Technology 

This course also covers legal concepts relating to the private sector and civilian government engagement in cyberspace. However, it additionally examines basic terms and concepts relevant to cybersecurity technology required to identify, understand and analyze associated legal issues.

Information Privacy Law

This course covers information privacy law, including the development of constitutional, tort, contract, property and statutory law to address emerging threats to privacy. Coursework explores privacy and the media, privacy and law enforcement, workplace privacy, privacy and online transactions, medical and genetic privacy, and privacy and personal records and information. Due to the threat AI adoption poses to online privacy and the protection of personal information, this course will be valuable to students interested in cybersecurity law. 

Consumer Privacy and Data Protection: Regulatory Approaches

This course focuses on regulation of consumer privacy and data protection, offering an in-depth review of the two major approaches to such regulation, the U.S. approach and the EU approach, and the various dimensions and components of privacy laws. Structural dimensions of laws examined include individual rights, consent, harm, sensitive data, accountability, automated decisions, data security, and enforcement. Emerging issues covered include algorithms, artificial intelligence, machine learning, technological design, platform governance, behavioral advertising, and cyber civil rights.

Next Steps: Earn Your MSL Online with The George Washington University Law School

As AI adoption rises, the number and sophistication of cyberattacks using this technology also grows. Government agencies, policymakers and businesses need professionals with cybersecurity law and AI expertise to keep organizations and society safe and operating within the law. If you have existing technology or cybersecurity experience, an online MSL degree from GW Law can help prepare you to meet this growing need and advance your career. 

To learn more about the GW Law online MSL program, set up a meeting with our enrollment team. Alternatively, review the admissions requirements and start your application if you are ready to proceed.