| Module |
Credits |
Compulsory/optional |
|
Distributed Systems Security
|
30 Credits |
Compulsory |
| A range of topics will be covered in this module. The detailed content will vary according to current research directions. Case studies will be used throughout. Issues will be considered in relation to each topic as appropriate. These pervasive issues are: models, design, standards, protocols, and performance.
A more detailed description of the module content is provided in the module delivery information for students. |
|
Information Security, Management and Compliance
|
15 Credits |
Compulsory |
| Today, Information Environments have become large, diverse and heterogeneous. System boundaries and jurisdictions have blurred and system assets can be located in different geographical locations. Stakeholders span across an integrated supply chain, new vulnerabilities are being constantly discovered and threat agents can expand their operations at an international level with little effort. The first and last line of defence to any information environment is a thorough, explicitly defined and well implemented risk and threat
assessment process.
The module will discuss procedures and controls for ensuring and assuring the information assets of an organisation. It will touch upon threat, risk, vulnerability and the different methods for managing them. It will look at security models, security standards and compliance issues for training students to conduct and manage risk and threat assessments. |
|
Digital Forensics
|
15 Credits |
Compulsory |
| Digital forensics is the discipline that deals with the collection, examination, analysis and reporting of digital evidence. Nowadays digital forensics techniques are employed in various types of investigations from cybercrimes to corporate investigations. When a security incident is reported, digital forensics techniques are applied in order to retrieve related evidence in an evidentially sound manner. The constant development of a range of technologies is contributing to the establishment of formal methods and procedures for the digital forensic investigators.
In this module the students should expect to familiarise themselves with the current research in the field and study the digital forensic practices. They will study the formal methodologies and policies involved in the investigation. A highly practical element should also be anticipated in this module as the students will work with various tools in order to practically analyse digital devices and extract digital evidence. |
|
Penetration Testing
|
15 Credits |
Compulsory |
| In today’s knowledge-centred virtual-computing era, the Cyber Domain is the Information Environment of choice for committing and facilitating crime. Criminals exploit system vulnerabilities in order to manifest threats for furthering their objectives. To secure a system, it is essential for computer security professionals to understand the structure, configuration, tools and techniques computer criminals rely upon, in order to successfully commit to their act. It is equally important to perform regular penetration tests for discovering vulnerabilities. The module will discuss the mind-set, culture and ethics of the professional Pen-Tester, the current practice for conducting a ‘PenTest’ and of course, research the technologies and tools involved. The module will train scholars to hack infrastructures, mine search-engine results, extract and analyse document metadata, identify and exploit vulnerabilities, enumerate users and services. |
|
Cyber Operations
|
15 Credits |
Compulsory |
| 1. Information as a weapon.
2. Information environment.
3. Cyber battlespaces and domains of conflict:
- network warfare;
- command & control warfare;
- defensive operations;
- threat intelligence, indicators & warnings;
- protection measures;
- attack response & restoration.
4. Offensive operations:
- perception management;
- intelligence for targeting & damage assessment;
- attack operations.
5. Disciplines of cyber operations (information operations):
- PSYOPS;
- deception;
- NETOPS;
- intelligence & counterintelligence (situational awareness);
- INFOSEC;
- OPSEC. |
|
Cyber Security Masters Project
|
60 Credits |
Compulsory |
| The project is a showpiece opportunity for students to demonstrate what they know about current research and practices in cyber security and show off their skills in selecting and using appropriate techniques and tools employed in cyber security to conduct a practical investigation into a particular cyber security problem.
The project is a self-directed piece of work, conducted with minimum supervision that demonstrates the student’s ability to plan and manage a substantial piece of work, and steer their own efforts.
Students are expected to be thorough in their work, and, particularly, identify and tackle any difficult or challenging aspects of the problems they are trying to solve. It is not just the quantity, or even the quality of work that is considered when grading the project, but the level of difficulty and the scope of the problem being addressed. |
|
Team Research and Development Project
|
15 Credits |
Compulsory |
| Students working at, and beyond, Master’s level are expected to understand both generic and domain-specific investigative methods, and to be able to apply them in their work. This module explores a range of such methods and helps students to enhance their proficiency in the skills that are expected of those working at postgraduate level.
Furthermore, this module involves working actively as part of a team of fellow students on a complex, multi-domain computing problem. Typically, the project can be a research project to answer a research question, a thorough empirical investigation of a specific topic, or a development idea from student themselves, or a virtual or real client. Each team would be expected to manage the project, to report regularly to their supervisor(s) on the progress of the project, and to collectively deliver a set of appropriate outputs from the project. The output(s) of the team project will typically be a computing product or system and its presentation together with appropriate documentation. |
|
Legal and Ethical Practice Exercise
|
15 Credits |
Compulsory |
| The module will involve a broad case study involving the provisioning of a system which adheres to ethical and professional guidelines and standards. This will be a team project.
One such case study might take the form of a large online platform where teams would have to create policies both for developers and users. The likely topics of those policies would be: issues involving sharing of user content, licensing of third party codes, moderation of content, consents from users relating to the tracking of user activity). The team would have to edit the platform such that all forms and submissions of user data are compliant with regulations particularly operative in the UK and the European Union. |
|
Preparation for Project
|
0 Credits |
Compulsory |
| This module provides preparation for the MSc Project. The module covers: Defining and gauging the suitability of a personal project to address a complex problem; Setting individual targets and goals relevant to the undertaking of the project; Determining ethical, professional and social considerations related to project design, implementation and delivery; Developing self-evaluation skills to support self-analysis of learning, skill acquisition and performance; Understanding particular models and methods used to initiate, plan, report on and manage complex technical projects. |
|
Advanced Research Topics in Computer Science
|
30 Credits |
Compulsory |
| This module aims to develop research and enquiry capabilities and is therefore structured around guided activities in terms of seminars, tutorials and research oriented courseworks.
The module will build on introductory research experience from core modules and provide a structured approach to develop area specific expertise by undertaking a research activity in a chosen area of specialisation and in a group setting that mirrors contemporary research methods. A concrete outcome is a technical report that synthesizes problem definitions from relevant literature and identifies a research problem in a chosen topic. |
|
Research Methods
|
30 Credits |
Compulsory |
| This module explores a range of generic and domain-specific research methods in computer science to enable students to understand such methods and apply them in their work, particularly in an advanced MSc project or a research project. The module helps students to enhance their proficiency in the skills that are expected of those working at postgraduate level.
Whilst some material will be presented in lectures, tutorials and labs, the module will be largely literature- and activity-based. It will place strong emphasis on self-management and will encourage students to reflect upon, and learn from, their own work. As the module progresses students will be expected to select an increasingly large proportion of the reading matter for themselves, so that they can tailor their learning to their individual needs in which they evaluate and choose an appropriate set of research methods for the investigation of a problem in a given sub-domain of computer science, and identify the principal advantages and limitations of those methods. |
