| Semester 2, 2023 Toowoomba On-campus | |
| Units : | 1 |
| School or Department : | School of Mathematics, Physics & Computing |
| Grading basis : | Graded |
| Course fee schedule : | /current-students/administration/fees/fee-schedules |
Staffing
Course Coordinator:
Overview
The heavy dependence that our economic and government structures have on cyber infrastructure makes them more likely to cyber attack and poses potential threats to infrastructural assets. As cyber threats are becoming more prevalent, so does the need to neutralise them. This course provides students with the fundamentals of cyber security including an overview of the current cyber landscapes, procedures and techniques used and emerging trends.
This course gives students key information regarding the design and management of ICT security within an organisation. Students will consider the fundamental nature of cyber security to maintain system integrity. The course explores the critical objectives of ICT security, relevant processes and practices and the level of success in achieving these objectives.
Course learning outcomes
On successful completion of this course students should be able to:
- Analyse the key security objectives of an organisation.
- Provide a detailed explanation of the key security practices currently employed within an organisation, including the strengths and limitations of current cyber-security architecture practice and make recommendations to improve security based on emerging trends.
- Evaluate and compare the current cyber-security architecture landscape in Australia and other countries, cognisant of its importance, scale and impact.
- Define and give a detailed explanation of the range, objectives and techniques employed to undermine cyber security.
- Explore important examples where cyber-security is of critical importance and careful implementation of security practises aims to guarantee the integrity of key systems.
- Analyse the consequences of a cyber-security failure including the impact on stakeholders and the importance of a thorough investigation in order to improve future practices and protocols.
- Explain the special role of money in relation to information security management, and the consequences of this special role for cyber-security.
Topics
| Description | Weighting(%) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Analysis of organisational key security objectives | 15.00 |
| 2. | Methods and procedures for achieving security objectives | 15.00 |
| 3. | Current cyber-security practise in Australia and world-wide | 15.00 |
| 4. | Several examples of key objectives, practices designed to achieve them, and the record of their success are then considered: (I) web-service security, with particular emphasis on the use of certificates to guarantee integrity and authentication and encryption to enforce key cyber-security objectives; (ii) authentication: its role, implementation, and consequences of failure; (iii) privacy of user information; (iv) the management and risks of privileged access; (v) a server farm. | 20.00 |
| 5. | Understanding the enemy: who are the parties seeking to compromise security, what are their objectives? And how do they seek to achieve them? | 15.00 |
| 6. | The special role of money in cyber-security, and how financial transactions need to be managed to minimize the risk of fraud. | 10.00 |
| 7. | Cyber-security failure: both the importance of avoiding it, and how to manage failures when they occur. | 10.00 |
Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed
Student workload expectations
To do well in this subject, students are expected to commit approximately 10 hours per week including class contact hours, independent study, and all assessment tasks. If you are undertaking additional activities, which may include placements and residential schools, the weekly workload hours may vary.
Assessment details
| Description | Group Assessment |
Weighting (%) | Course learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quiz 1 | No | 10 | 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 |
| Quiz 2 | No | 20 | 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 |
| Quiz 3 | No | 20 | 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 |
| Time limited online examinatn | No | 50 | 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 |