MSc Cyber Security

Learning Outcomes

Advanced Ethical Hacking and Security Compliance

On successful completion of the module, the student will be able to:

• Evaluate the security risks presented by computer networks and systems
• To understand the requirements of the delivery of a penetration testing service (e.g., blue team/red team).
• To manage the creation and delivery of a penetration testing service.
• Explain different security frameworks and methods, and understand their significance in a secure environment.
• Use security auditing and penetration testing tools and techniques, in securing systems, and assess the protections provided by each tool and technique.

Cyber Forensics

By the end of this module students should be able to achieve:

• Deep and critical understanding of the theory and practice of computer, mobile, IoT and Cloud forensics.
• Comprehensive understanding of the cyber forensics processes including digital evidence acquisition, validation, analysis, and reporting.
• Critical understanding of the digital evidence obtained handling encompassing forensics investigations, findings reporting and interpretations in a tribunal/court.
• Awareness of the technical requirements and professional environment of the cyber forensics practice as well as challenges facing practitioners.
• An awareness of future trends in cyber forensics and ethical, legal and professional issues in the context of cybercrime investigation.

Cyber Incident Response

By the end of this module students should be able to achieve:

• Advanced knowledge and practical skills in cyber incident response and handling including security/digital forensic principles and methods related to incident response and malware analysis.
• Deep and critical understanding of the theory and practice of computer, mobile, IoT and Cloud forensics.
• Learn and master the tools, techniques, and procedures necessary to effectively hunt, detect, and contain a variety of adversaries and to remediate incidents.
• Use memory analysis, incident response, and threat-hunting tools to detect hidden processes, malware, attacker command lines, rootkits, and network connections, and hunt through and perform incident response across systems.
• Recover data cleared using anti-forensics techniques and use collected data to perform effective remediation.

Information Security

This module aims to enable students to:

• Show appreciation of the concepts, mechanisms and processes involved in securing information in enterprise information systems;
• Demonstrate an understanding of the mathematics that underpins modern (symmetric and asymmetric) systems for cryptography;
• Acquire in-depth knowledge and training to analyse, design and implement dependable security infrastructure for enterprise applications;
• Develop skills (including for teamwork) necessary for the development of organisational and managerial policies for effective security administration;
• Appreciate and analyse the ethical, practical and human dimensions of information security and cryptography and apply the legal frameworks covering privacy and data protection.

MSc Project

On completion of the module the student should be able to:

• Design, plan, monitor and manage a piece of original project work
• Produce a clear set of specifications for the project from its initial stage
• Critically analyse previous relevant work by the effective use of libraries and other information sources
• Synthesize knowledge and skills previously gained and apply these to an in-depth project
• LO5 Understand ethical, legal and professional issues and apply them to a project
• Integrate theory and practice by applying a range of tools, skills and techniques
• Communicate effectively findings in a variety of ways
• Write a comprehensive and concise report, justify the project implementation, discuss and explain findings at the viva
• Critically evaluate the project outcomes, including evidence of commercial risks.

Artificial Intelligence

On completing the module, the student will be able to

• Understand and critically analyse the essential concepts, principles, methods, techniques and problems of AI.
• Have working knowledge of the methods for state space search, qualitative and quantitative assessment of the progress towards goal state, heuristic information representation, retrieval and application to problem solving.
• Demonstrate the understanding of knowledge engineering and ability to develop a prototype of knowledge-based systems which can use knowledge representation and automated logical inference
• Differentiate between different methods for decision making and action planning applicable to the task for building agents which can learn from their own behaviour
• Develop decision making skills based on theioretical and empirical comparison of the different methods and algorithms for buildingintelligent agents
• Understand the Legal, Ethical & Professional Issues brought by AI and their impact on the society

Cloud Computing and the Internet of Things

• Design and critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of different IoT system architectures and components, showing understanding of their key features, including (passive and active) sensors, actuators, physical communications layer, message protocols, programming frameworks, and energy and bandwidth constraints
• Apply extensive hands-on application development skills for building multi-tier cloud-based IoT systems as members of a development team and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different types of cloud-based architectures
• Express a critical understanding of current research areas associated with the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing and Autonomous Intelligent Systems (AIS), including the commercial context and any privacy/security issues, legal, social, ethical, and professional issues related to the design, development, and implementation of Cloud Computing and IoT technologies and systems
• Apply broad skill in writing professional reports as vehicles for communicating research ideas
• Demonstrate ability for professional presentation, delivery, and peer assessment of research work

Cyber Security Management

The student should be able to:

• appreciate the vital role of and understand the complexities of cybersecurity management in today’s business environment and cyber space;
• appreciate the issues related to information security standards and procedures;
• Evaluate and assess main stream companies attempts to solve their cybersecurity problems;
• evaluate critically the suitability of security risk assessment techniques in a particular context;
• evaluate critically the suitability of controls for a particular security threat in a particular context;

Cybercrime and Cyber Security

On successful completion of the module students will be able to:

• Critically examine and apply current developments, concepts and principles in the fields of cybercrime and cyber security.
• Apply critical reflection, analysis and evaluation to develop an understanding of the relationship between advances in digital and Internet-based technologies, and their criminal exploitation and impact on businesses and society.
• Identify, examine and assess suitable strategies, policies, approaches and tools for cybersecurity as a means to preventing digital and cybercrime, and protecting infrastructure in view of the various risks, and legal, ethical, social and professional issues.
• Comply with ethical norms and professional standards consistent with government legislations and laws with respect to cybercrime and cybersecurity.