Overview

The MSc in Cyber Security aims to provide you with the knowledge and necessary skills in several core areas of cyber security. The course aims to provide a comprehensive and deep understanding of security principles, as well as the practical techniques used in solving security problems and addressing relevant issues.

The course will also provide the opportunity for recent graduates and early to mid-career practitioners in the computing industry to enhance their knowledge or move into cyber security.

Course information

The Cyber Security MSc seeks to provide a postgraduate education covering the main theoretical and practical aspects of the field.

The overall aim of the course is to develop:

• A deep and comprehensive understanding of current cyber security issues, concepts and technologies;
• Technical skills in assessing systems security, detecting and mitigating security incidents; and
• An understanding of the changing cyber threat landscape and the developments in cyberspace.

A student who successfully completes the course will have achieved the following Course Learning Outcomes:

1. Demonstrate a critical awareness of the legal frameworks, ethical and professional issues of cyber security.
2. Perform systematic risk assessment, identification and analysis in accordance with international standards and demonstrate an ability to deal with complex issues.
3. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of network and information systems secure communication technologies and protocols and their application to contemporary Internet and mobile-based solutions and technologies.
4. Evaluate and justify a suitable methodology and tools for vulnerability assessment of a system. Conduct and report an ethically based security audit and test to a professional standard, recommending and specifying suitable countermeasures.
5. Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the theoretical concepts and implementation of current security frameworks and architectures as well as cryptographic protocols and algorithms. Be able to assess systems’ security requirements and apply secure design methodology and formal methods in systems design, implementation and testing.
6. Apply appropriate technological solutions and processes in the detection, management and investigation of information security incidents, and document a digital investigation from a legal and professional standpoint.
7. Demonstrate a critical awareness of current issues and new technologies in cyber security, which are informed by leading edge research and/or practice in the field.
8. Extrapolate from existing research, scholarship and/or fieldwork findings to identify new or revised approaches to practice.
9. Conduct rigorous research / formal enquiry into cyber security issues that require familiarity with a range of technologies, research sources and appropriate methodologies, and for such to inform the overall learning process.