Cyber Security - BSc (Hons)

Software is ubiquitous. Not only is it deployed on traditional computing platforms (such as workstations and servers), but it is also embedded in network equipment (such as routers and firewalls) and consumer devices (such as hearing aids and smartphones). In this module, we will explore the foundations of software security, important software vulnerabilities and attacks that exploit them -- such as buffer overflows, SQL injection, and session hijacking. The module explores defenses that prevent or mitigate these attacks, including advanced testing and analysis techniques. You will also learn how product vendors and services should manage exposed vulnerabilities and how vulnerabilities are being disclosed to stakeholders in an ethical way.  It continues the software theme that you began at Level 4 when you studied the Computer Programming and Applied Operating Systems module. 

The module has been designed to provide you with the necessary theoretical framework, foundations and practical support for understanding security solutions with reference to the application of cryptography, access control and a wider range of security attack categories and defensive approaches and systems.

This module begins with an introduction to the core principles and processes of a typical computer forensic investigation. It aims to develop a firm grounding in the underpinning knowledge and skills required to analyse and evaluate the authenticity of data from a computer and related data storage devices in a forensically sound manner. The module will teach you the fundamental data structures applicable to computer forensics and how various software tools can be employed to analyse these structures in a variety of case types.

The module provides you with an opportunity to build on the learning and to develop knowledge of cyber security and how it relates to information and network security. This module builds on Hardware and Security Fundamentals module and will allow you to protect a network system from issues of cyber-crime, based on security principles and the principles of how to defend networks from attack.

In this module you will have the opportunity to learn and critically reflect on the skills required for Network Technologies. This module builds your knowledge and underpinning theory for the networking modules and you will review the requirements from a small to medium scale network deployment engineering context.

This module covers key areas of cryptography, including symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms, public key infrastructure (PKI), digital signature, digital certificates, key exchange and management.

In addition, the module will cover the application of cryptographic techniques to address security requirements such as confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, and non-repudiation. You will use various block cipher-based cryptographic algorithms such as Advance Encryption Algorithm (AES), RSA, Diffie-Hellman, and secure hash functions.

This module is designed to provide you with the opportunity to undertake a credit bearing, 40- week Professional Placement as an integral part of your Undergraduate Degree. 

The purpose of the Professional Placement is to improve your employability skills which will, through the placement experience, allow you to evidence your professional skills, attitudes and behaviours at the point of entry to the postgraduate job market. Furthermore, by completing the Professional Placement, you will be able to develop and enhance your understanding of the professional work environment, relevant to your chosen field of study, and reflect critically on your own professional skills development within the workplace. 

The purpose of the module is to enable you to undertake a sustained, in-depth and research-informed project exploring an area that is of personal interest to you. In agreement with your supervisor, you will decide upon your topic which will take the form of a practical outcome (artefact) with accompanying contextual material. The main consideration when choosing your topic is that it must be aligned to the programme you are studying, and you should consider the relevance of this topic to your future academic or professional development.

The module provides you with an opportunity to learn and critically reflect on the skills of Ethical Hacking and information security within a global context. This module builds on the knowledge and underpinning theory from the networking modules and reviews the requirements for a secure network communication system.

As cyberattacks grow in volume and complexity, artificial intelligence (AI) is a vital tool assisting security operations analysts to stay ahead of threats. Looking after threat intelligence from millions of research papers, blogs and news stories, AI technologies like machine learning provide rapid insights to cut through the noise of daily alerts, drastically reducing response times. AI is a powerful tool for identifying vulnerabilities, threats, and attacks in cyberspace. AI-based cybersecurity can detect and analyse enormous amounts of data, seeking malicious patterns and providing necessary recommendations.

This module provides students with knowledge and practical skills essential for the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of evidence obtained from wired and wireless networked computers and storage systems. Emphasis is also placed on the evidence harboured by network hardware devices, such as routers and switches.

You will learn how to effectively retrieve valuable information from the Microsoft Windows Server operating systems and analyse the Active Directory for evidence pertaining to user policies, privileges and violations. You will also learn how to formulate and implement a strategy to acquire drive images as evidence files over networked computers.

One of the major objective of the computer science program is to introduce the theory, principles and technologies underlying the construction of modern computing systems. This module introduces, Cloud Computing which is the technology that enables on-demand computing resources (everything from applications to data centres) over the internet.