BSc (Hons) Cyber Security

Cyber Security is an important and growing area of work for computing professionals. Any organisation that has a computer network or uses the Internet has a potential security risk and will need people with specialised skills to help protect their systems and data. You may also find yourself working for a specialist consultancy firm that provides such a service to smaller organisations. Computer systems store, process and communicate a wide variety of data. Much of this data is private and improper access to it can result in significant costs to an organisation or the person that owns the data. Securing computer systems against malicious attack or even against inadvertent damage is vital to any computer system. This programme gives you the knowledge and skills to enable you to prevent attacks and inadvertent damage to computer systems. The first year provides a general grounding in computing skills and introduces you to the fundamental aspects of computer security. You will gain technical skills in both computer networks and computer systems that you will build on in later years. In the following years, you will develop technical skills in network security, and hacking attacks and defences as well as in biometrics and biometric based security systems. In the final year, cryptography and malicious software are covered in some detail. Practical work in the specialist modules and the final year project will involve the development of appropriate security software. As part of studying network security you will cover the CISCO networking syllabus for Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Routing and Switching and then the follow on CCNA Security syllabus. You will have an opportunity to take the industry-standard ECCouncil Ethical Hacker Certification. We have placement students in a variety of organisations, including GCHQ, Police High Tech Crime Units, Cyber Security and Digital Forensic businesses.