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CM50283: Cybersecurity

[Page last updated: 09 August 2024]

Academic Year: 2024/25
Owning Department/School: Department of Computer Science
Credits: 6 [equivalent to 12 CATS credits]
Notional Study Hours: 120
Level: Masters UG & PG (FHEQ level 7)
Period:
Semester 2
Assessment Summary: CW 100%
Assessment Detail:
  • Individual Coursework 1 (CW 30%)
  • Individual Coursework 2 (2A+2B) (CW 40%)
  • Group Assignment (CW 30%)
Supplementary Assessment:
Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations)
Requisites: This module is only available to apprentices on the Level 7 Digital and Technology Solution Specialist Apprenticeship
Learning Outcomes: After taking this unit, the student should be able to:
(1) describe common security models;
(2) discuss what it means for a given system to be 'secure';
(3) identify security weaknesses in proposed systems.


Aims: (a) To develop an understanding of the difficulties of security - everyone wants it but no-one can define it.
(b) To develop the ability to analyse the security threats to a proposed design.
(c) To develop the ability to propose realistic counter-measures, where available.

Skills: Critical thinking (F, A). Defensive analysis and programming (T, F, A).

Content: Philosophical, legal, ethical issues. What is a person? Passwords, user ids and biometrics. What are authorisation and delegation? What are data? Security against theft, destruction, interception, tampering. Some thoughts on physical security. Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act, Regulatory and Investigatory Powers Act. Military/government requirements for security.
Security within a computer. Hardware support for security: states and memory protection. memory mapping, virtual memory and security. The Unix Security model: chown, chgrp, setuid and chroot. Strengths and weaknesses of the Unix security model: common attacks.
The Multics security model. Capabilities.
Security within Databases. Protection against loss - two-phase commit. Protection against statistical queries: Denning's model.
Security within networks. 'Man in the middle' attacks. What does the 's' in https signify?
Case studies: Internet worm. Power attacks and other covert channels. A chain can be weaker than its weakest link: the Crouch-Davenport attack.

Course availability:

CM50283 is Optional on the following courses:

Department of Computer Science

Notes:

  • This unit catalogue is applicable for the 2024/25 academic year only. Students continuing their studies into 2025/26 and beyond should not assume that this unit will be available in future years in the format displayed here for 2024/25.
  • Courses and units are subject to change in accordance with normal University procedures.
  • Availability of units will be subject to constraints such as staff availability, minimum and maximum group sizes, and timetabling factors as well as a student's ability to meet any pre-requisite rules.
  • Find out more about these and other important University terms and conditions here.