Cyber Security (Work Experience) (Taught)

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Course summary

• Develop ethical hacking skills to fundamentally understand cyber-attacks.

• Learn and deploy countermeasures that help secure and protect computer systems.

• Implement and manage information security within organisational frameworks.

• Learn the skills needed to undertake the BSI ISO 27001 Lead Auditor certification.

• Accredited by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

During the MSc Cyber Security course, you will develop your knowledge and skills that are essential for a career as a computing security professional. With the course being accredited by the NCSC, you can be confident that you will graduate with the Cyber-Body of Knowledge (CyBok) industry-standard techniques that employers are seeking.

How you learn
The course starts by building your knowledge and skills in network security where you will learn how to secure networks and detect intrusions. This builds into information security that provides further layers of cyber protection including cryptography, access control and risk management. To aid your learning in this area, you will be using real-world case studies and build their solutions.

You will then develop your ethical hacking / pen-testing skills to try and compromise those systems to understand vectors of attack. This includes learning how to identify security vulnerabilities within operating systems, undertake password attacks, and exploit social engineering to gain system access. You will use platforms, such as Hack The Box, to safely practice and develop your skills in this area.

Once the fundamentals principles are covered, you will further your understanding towards security measure compliance by working on case-studies that reflect industry scenarios. This aspect of the course also prepares you for the Lead Auditor certification, for example, determining whether sensitive data is being properly managed with specific reference to Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA).

Cyber threat intelligence is another important component of the discipline where you will learn about frameworks (e.g. Mitre Att&ck) and adversary behaviour to help identify attack vectors. Once attacks have happened, you will use digital forensics to better understand their origin and compile evidence to help protect from future threats and support law enforcement agents to tackle the source.

You learn through:

• tutorials

• workshops

• problem-solving activities

• practical projects

• team work

• reports

• demonstrations

• discussions

• presentations

• structured walk-throughs

Key themes
You'll begin by learning the fundamentals in network security, where you'll learn to secure networks and detect intrusions through real-world case studies. Information security is emphasised, covering cryptography, access control, and risk management for robust cyber protection. The course also focuses on ethical hacking, teaching penetration testing techniques to identify and exploit system vulnerabilities. You'll gain expertise in cyber threat intelligence and digital forensics to understand attack vectors and compile evidence for law enforcement.

Applied learning
Work Experience
A work experience placement is recognised as the ‘gold standard’ opportunity to apply your knowledge within an industry of your choice, to which we expect all our students to aspire. You are encouraged and supported to undertake a full-time work placement and the course is designed to give you the knowledge, confidence, and readiness to secure and succeed in this. To complement this, you have access to various support activities, resources, employer events and opportunities from the Careers & Employability Team to ensure you make the most of your work experience opportunities during your degree.