Cyber Security, Privacy and Trust

Entry requirements

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in informatics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science, electrical engineering, linguistics, mathematics, philosophy, physics, psychology, or another quantitative discipline.

Entry to this programme is competitive. A typical offer will normally require a UK first class honours degree.

You should have experience of computer programming equivalent to an introductory programming course and have completed the equivalent to 60 credits of mathematics during your degree that have typically covered the following subjects/topics: calculus (differentiation and integration), linear algebra (vectors and multi-dimensional matrices), discrete mathematics and mathematical reasoning (e.g. induction and reasoning, graph theoretic models, proofs), and probability (concepts in discrete and continuous probabilities, Markov chains etc.).

Months of entry

September

Course content

Our societies are critically dependent on computer software. Electronic systems are everywhere, and governments, financial and transport organisations, or telecommunication companies all possess and manage huge amounts of sensitive information concerning all of our everyday activities.

With the emergence of new systems and services such as: electronic IDs and passports, electronic payment systems and loyalty schemes, electronic tickets, and telecommunication systems, every aspect of our life is relying on / recorded by some computerised system. As such, we have been witnessing a significant increase in attacks targeting computing infrastructure. The cyber security threat has been characterised as serious as terrorism by the GCHQ, therefore a need for graduates with highly specialised training in this area is ever-growing.

Cyber security and privacy is the study of the computational principles, methods and mechanisms for safe-guarding these sensitive applications. Graduates of the programme will learn how to evaluate, design, and implement secure and trustworthy systems in complex distributed systems.

Many research areas have tackled parts of this problem – students on this degree will experience training from academic experts in a uniquely broad combination of theory and practice: Secure Software, Cryptography, Secure Hardware, Verification, Post Quantum, Data Privacy, Usability, Fintech, Health, Smart Contracts, Distributed Ledgers, Privacy Preserving Data Mining. The teaching team of the MSc in Cyber Security, Privacy and Trust is lined up with world class researchers and educators. In particular, the University has been recognised by GCHQ/NCSC as an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research, in recognition of its critical mass in leading edge cyber security research.

The overall programme delivers intellectual and practical experience in all aspects of cyber security, privacy, and trust: dealing with real-world applications; applying and extending state of the art defence mechanisms; engineering end-to-end secure and trustworthy systems; communicating results through oral and written reports.