Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Angela Irwin
Ed Moore
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Credit points |
Credit points
4
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
Admission to MPICT or MCPICT or PGDipPICT or GradDipPICT or GradDipCPICT or PGCertPICT or GradCertPICT or GradCertCPICT or MPICTMIntSecSt or MCPICTMIntSecSt or MIntSecStud or GradDipIntSecStud or GradCertIntell or MInfoTech or MCyberSec
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
PICT848
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Unit description |
Unit description
In today’s world, organisations must be able to protect and defend against threats in cyberspace. This unit provides a solid understanding of the theory and practice used to manage information security on computer systems and networks. Students will be exposed to multiple cyber security technologies, processes and procedures, learn how to analyse threats, vulnerabilities and risks present in these environments, and develop appropriate strategies and policies to mitigate potential cyber security problems. Topics include: an overview of computer and communications security, risk assessment, human factors, identification and authentication, access controls, malicious software, software security and legal and ethical issues. Students will have the opportunity to use tools and software commonly used to attack/protect networks in order to develop workplace skills.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
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Engagement/participation | 25% | No | Weekly |
Research essay | 25% | No | See unit iLearn site |
Cyber security risk assessment | 50% | No | See unit iLearn site |
Due: Weekly
Weighting: 25%
Internal students
Your participation in class should demonstrate that you have read, understood and reflected on course material and weekly readings. You should bring in related thoughts and material, readings or questions that occur to you throughout the discussion.
You are required to complete the core readings for each module, reflect upon the readings and to then share your reflections on the readings with course colleagues during the on-campus sessions.
Your discussions should advance the group's negotiation of ideas and meanings about the material. Some ways you can further discussions include:
A variety of different activities will occur each week and students should be prepared to fully participate in these activities. Students are also to actively engage with other students in class and challenge their input.
This task is to assess your comprehension of the weekly material and that you are engaging with the Unit.
A mark for the discussions will be awarded on the basis of:
In assessing your contributions, the following categories will be used:
Attendance and participation in class discussions is worth 10% of the engagement and participation score.
On some weeks, internal students will be required to complete lab exercises. These lab exercises will involve the use of common cyber security tools. Students must complete lab sheets each week to show the results of their lab exercises and answers to research questions posed. Students will be required to submit their lab exercise sheets for marking after the final lab session (week to be confirmed).
The lab exercise component of the unit is worth 15% of the engagement and participation score.
External students
Your postings to the online discussion forums should demonstrate that you have read, understood and reflected on course material and weekly readings. You should bring in related thoughts and material, readings or questions that occur to you throughout the discussion. You are required to complete the core readings for each module, reflect upon the readings and share your reflections on the readings with course colleagues through online discussion forum questions. One question will be posted to the discussion forum each week. Responses to each question should be a minimum of 100 words in length.
Forum discussion question postings should advance the group's negotiation of ideas and meanings about the material. Some ways you can further discussions include:
If citing course readings, in-text references are sufficient. For additional references (if applicable), please provide a bibliographic reference at the end of your post. For a posting to be counted for a given week, it must be entered by midnight on the Sunday of that week’s activity. If they are entered later than this, they will not be counted.
A mark for the discussions will be awarded on the basis of:
1. Your participation in the discussions (40%)
2. The essence of your contributions (60%)
In assessing your contributions, the following categories will be used:
Students who do not fully participate in at least 8 discussion forums will receive a marks of zero for this component of participation. External students will also be required to complete three quizzes during the unit (weeks to be confirmed). The quizzes will be based around the readings or course materials for specified weeks.
Each quiz will be worth 5% of the engagement and participation score (i.e. 15% in total).
Due: See unit iLearn site
Weighting: 25%
1,500 word research essay. Students will be required to do extensive, self-led research on a predefined topic related to cyber security practice or procedure. The research topic/question will be provided to students in week 1.
A detailed marking matrix is available to all enrolled students on the unit iLearn site. Marking criteria includes evaluation of understanding of cyber security concepts, arguments put forward and academic support for those arguments, written expression, referencing and structure and layout.
Due: See unit iLearn site
Weighting: 50%
Effective cyber security risk management is much more than a technology solution, it must be integrated into an organisation's day-to-day operations. A company must be prepared to respond to the inevitable cyber incident, restore normal operations and ensure that company assets and the company's reputation are protected. In this assessment, students must perform a risk analysis of a scenario organisation's cyber risk, identify threats and vulnerabilities of information assets, forecast the consequences of a successful attack and recommend how each threat should be treated.
The risk assessment must be able to cater for accidental or deliberate hardware, software and network failures.
The 3,500 word risk assessment allows students to explore the application of cyber security principals to a real world organisation. A scenario will be provided to students later in the session. A detailed marking matrix is available to all enrolled students on the unit iLearn site. Marking criteria includes evaluation of understanding of risk assessment concepts, written expression, referencing, structure and layout and workability of the risk assessment provided.
UNIT REQUIREMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS
You should spend an average of 12 hours per week on this unit. This includes listening to lectures prior to seminar or tutorial, reading weekly required materials as detailed in iLearn, participating in Ilearn discussion forums and preparing assessments.
Internal students are expected to attend all seminar or tutorial sessions, and external students are expected to make significant contributions to on-line activities.
In most cases students are required to attempt and submit all major assessment tasks in order to pass the unit.
REQUIRED READINGS
TECHNOLOGY USED AND REQUIRED
SUBMITTING ASSESSMENT TASKS
LATE SUBMISSION OF ASSESSMENT TASKS
Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – two (2) marks out of 100 will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments – e.g. quizzes, online tests.
WORD LIMITS FOR ASSESSMENT TASKS
REASSESSMENT OF ASSIGNMENTS DURING THE SEMESTER
STAFF AVAILABILITY
Week 1 - Introduction to cyber security
Week 2 - Access control
Week 3 - Telecommunications and network security
Week 4 - Information security and risk management
Week 5 - Application security
Week 6 - Cryptography
Week 7 - Security architecture and design
Week 8 - Operations security
Week 9 - Business continuity and disaster recovery planning
Week 10 - Legal, regulations, compliance and investigations
Week 11 - Physical (environmental) security
Week 12 - Training, behaviours and social engineering
Week 13 - Unit review
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Undergraduate students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.
If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct
Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.
Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.
For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au
For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/.
When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.
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