The philosophy of this module is to introduce the student to cybersecurity from both a “white-hat” (defensive), and “black-hat” (offensive) perspective. The Syllabus lists some of the core texts while the module handbook is here.
The lectures will be in room MXB-04-102 from 12:15 to 14:05. The practicals are in room MXB-03-114 & MXB-03-102 from 14:15 to 17:05.
The module is 100% coursework. Coursework 1 is a report on a cyber security topic which is worth 25%. The submission date is week 5 – Monday October 19th. The second coursework is a lab test where you will demonstrate aspects of your practical & theoretical pen testing skills. This is in week 12 – Monday December 7th and is worth 75% of your final module mark.
Weekly Sides, Reading & Labs
Lecture 1 : Introduction & Emerging Topics
Optional additional reading: Tor: The Second-Generation Onion Router by Dingledine et al.
Optional video clip: Vacuum Robot Security & Privacy – Prevent your Robot from Sucking Your Data
Lab 1: Vulnersity, Network Traffic Analysis
Lecture 2: Authentication – Access control & cryptography
Optional additional reading: Cloud Security – A short primer by Joel-Ahmed Mondol.
Optional video clip: Tracking the Worlds Dumbest Cyber Mercenaries
Lab 2: Linux & XSS & Snort
Lecture 3: Programs & Programming
Optional additional reading: Microsoft vs. Apple: Resilience against Distributed DoS Attack by Altunbasak et al.
Optional video clip Drinking from the caffeine firehose we know as shodan
Lab 3: DNS, HTTP, Web Applications
Lecture 4: Network Security
Optional additional reading: Can we make operating systems reliable and secure by Tanenbaum et al.
Optional video clip: Darknet Opsec By a Veteran Darknet Vendor
Lab 4: Security Analyst, pyramid of pain and cyber threats
Lecture 5: Operating Systems
Optional additional reading: A Taxonomy of Buffer Overflow Characteristics by Matt Bishop et al.
Optional video clip: Badge of Shame Breaking into Secure Facilities with OSDP
Lab 5: Network Security
Lecture 6: AI & Cybersecurity
Optional additional reading: AI-Driven Cybersecurity Threats: A Survey of Emerging Risks and Defensive Strategies by Erukude et al.
Optional video clip: The OpenAI–Hugging Face Incident
Lab 6: AI & Cybersecurity
Lecture 7: Databases
Optional additional reading: It is Time for Trustworthy Systems by Hesier et al.
Optional video clip: Infinite Money Glitch – Hacking Transit Cards
Lab 7: Endpoint Security Monitoring & Security Information & Event Management
Lecture 8: Cloud Computing
Optional additional reading: A Survey on Security for Mobile Devices by La Polla et al.
Optional video clip: Phreaking Smart Shopping Cart Wheels Through RF Sniffing
Lab Week 8 – Phishing & Detection Engineering
Lecture 9: Privacy & Security Incident Management
Optional additional reading: Why I wrote PGP by Phil Zimmermann.
Optional video clip: Private Until Presumed Guilty
Lab Week 9 – Critical Vulnerabilities
Lecture 10: Cryptography
Optional additional reading: Keystroke Dynamics for User Authentication by Zhong et al.
Optional video clip: A Different Uber Post Mortem
Lab Week 10 – Splunk & Logs
Lecture 11: Legal Issues & Ethics
Optional additional reading: Legal, Ethical & Social Issues in the case of an Intrusive Remote Monitoring Software by McBrearty et al.
Optional video clip: LLMs at the Forefront Pioneering the Future of Fuzz Testing
Lab Week 11 – Windows, Active Directory & Kenobi
Lecture 12: No Lecture – Class Test only
Optional additional reading: A Lightweight Authentication Protocol for Secure Communications between Resource-Limited Devices and Wireless Sensor Networks by Ksiazak et al.
Optional video clip: Shall We Play a Game
Labs
All practicals are placed on BlackBoard each week.
Assignments
CLASS ASSIGNMENT 1 – 25% (Date: Week 5 – October 19th)
Cybersecurity Report
CLASS ASSIGNMENT 2 – 75% (Date: Week 12 – December 7th)
Theory & practical lab test