Introductory description

Secure systems have a singular goal - to concurrently enable things to happen that should happen, whilst preventing things from happening that should not happen. Within that simplicity are deep challenges: defining the contextually contingent sets of should and should not; anticipating what the future might bring; determining the extent of the system. Alongside these deep challenges however, there are well understood patterns of implementation that make the shoulds more likely and the should nots less likely. Similarly, there are well understood patterns that tend to encourage the opposite.

This module is concerned with deliberately choosing good patterns of implementation for the long-term well-being of the system under consideration.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Outline content
The content of this module will be taught from a cyber security perspective.

• Design and development considerations:
• Selecting and applying core technologies:
• Recognising security needs on, across and between platforms:
• Cryptography:
• Network security:
• Human factors:
• Security systems development:

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• 1 – Reason about the relationship between human trust and the technological tokens that represent trust in cyber systems.
• 2 - Design a security architecture that satisfies the security needs of a given scenario.
• 3 - Configure systems, applying cryptographic techniques as needed, to achieve desired security objectives.

Indicative reading list

Bejtlich, Richard, “The Practice of Network Security Monitoring”, No Starch Press (2013)

Merkow, Mark S. and Raghavan, Lakshmikanth, “Secure and Resilient Software Development”, Auerbach Publications (2010)

Stallings, William, “Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice”, 7 Ed, Pearson (2016)

Subject specific skills

1 – Reason about the relationship between human trust and the technological tokens that represent trust in cyber systems.
2 - Design a security architecture that satisfies the security needs of a given scenario.
3 - Configure systems, applying cryptographic techniques as needed, to achieve desired security objectives.

Transferable skills

Critical thinking, problem solving