Introductory description

Discrete structures are the foundation of digital computing. Although relatively few people work primarily on discrete structures, almost all cyber security professionals work with the techniques and concepts covered in this module to provide a foundation for their own specialist areas. Material from Discrete Structures for Cyber Security will give greater insight into the reasoning behind much of the more applied cyber security material throughout the programme.

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.

• Sets
• Relations
• Functions
• Logic
• Proofs
• Graphs
• Discrete probability

Learning outcomes

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

• 1 – Perform relevant abstract operations on a range of discrete structures to support reasoning.
• 2 – Apply the tools and techniques associated with discrete structures to solve cyber security problems.

Indicative reading list

Johnsonbaugh Richard, "Discrete mathematics", 8 Ed, Pearson Education Limited (2019)

Balakrishnan, V. K., “Schaum's Outline of Combinatorics”, McGraw-Hill (1995)

Karumanchi, Narasimha, “Data Structures and Algorithms Made Easy: Data Structure and
Algorithmic Puzzles”, 2 Ed, CareerMonk (2011)

Subject specific skills

1 – Perform relevant abstract operations on a range of discrete structures to support reasoning.
2 – Apply the tools and techniques associated with discrete structures to solve cyber security problems.

Transferable skills

problem solving