Cyber Security (Taught)

What's special about the MSc in Cyber Security offered by Strathclyde is its depth of and breadth of coverage of the cyber security landscape.

Cyber security problems cannot be truly understood solely from a technical or sociological perspective. Cyber security experts should shift perspectives between attackers and defenders, identify human factors, economic motives, and operate within regulatory constraints.

The course will create new cyber security leaders capable of formulating their own abstractions which enable them to manage conceptually the infinite range of attack vectors that increasingly sophisticated actors may attempt to exploit.

From day one, students will go deep into parallel tracks with world-leading experts in threat modelling and secure programming, human-centric security, and network security. This takes student and lecturers together on an adventure deep into specialised topics. At the same time, students will reflect on the bigger picture, appreciating how each skill set earned is just one perspective required to face the realities of mitigating cyberattacks.

Information Security Fundamentals, Advanced Human Centred Security, Security Protocols and Threat Models, Legal, Ethical and Professional Issues for the Information Society, Vulnerability Assessment & Security Testing, Advanced Security-by-Design, Research Topics in Cyber Security, Research Methods, Individual Project.

The course is strategically structured to ensure a balanced assessment throughout the two taught semesters. Each semester incorporates diverse study modes. Specifically, modules with a human-centric focus relies heavily on in-class presentations for assessment, while technical modules emphasise an end-of-semester examination. The remaining modules incorporate ongoing assessment through practical laboratory exercises. In the third semester, students submit their dissertation, conducted under the supervision of a leading security expert.