Notice
As part of Phase 3 of our return to campus plan, most units will now run tutorials, seminars and other small group learning activities on campus for the second half-year, while keeping an online version available for those students unable to return or those who choose to continue their studies online.
To check the availability of face to face activities for your unit, please go to timetable viewer. To check detailed information on unit assessments visit your unit's iLearn space or consult your unit convenor.
Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Convenor and Lecturer
Hassan Asghar
Contact via Contact via email
Room 210, Level 2, 4 Research Park Drive, Becton-Dickinson (BD) Building
Lecturer
Muhammad Ikram
Contact via Contact via email
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Credit points |
Credit points
10
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
(COMP6300 or ITEC643) or admission to MInfoTechCyberSec or BCyberSecMInfoTechCyberSec
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
This unit deals with the concepts, techniques and tools which contribute to enable information and data security. Building on applied cryptography notions and introducing the concept of provable privacy, the unit addresses topics such as encryption, privacy preserving techniques in data mining, content security solutions or secure data management.
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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:
Late Submission
No extensions will be granted without an approved application for Special Consideration. There will be a deduction of 10% of the total available marks made from the total awarded mark for each 24 hour period or part thereof that the submission is late. For example, 25 hours late in submission for an assignment worth 10 marks – 20% penalty or 2 marks deducted from the total. No submission will be accepted after solutions have been posted.
Supplementary Exam
If you receive Special Consideration for a module exam, a supplementary exam will be scheduled after the normal exam period. By making a special consideration application for the module exam you are declaring yourself available for a resit during the supplementary examination period and will not be eligible for a second special consideration approval based on pre-existing commitments. Please ensure you are familiar with the policy prior to submitting an application. Approved applicants will receive an individual notification prior to the exam with the exact date and time of their supplementary examination.
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
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Module Exam 2 | 20% | No | Week 9 |
Module Exam 1 | 20% | No | Week 5 |
Assignment 2 | 15% | No | Week 7 |
Module Exam 3 | 20% | No | Week 13 |
Assignment 2 | 15% | No | Week 12 |
Weekly Tasks | 10% | No | Every Week |
Assessment Type 1: Examination
Indicative Time on Task 2: 15 hours
Due: Week 9
Weighting: 20%
A 50 minutes long online examination worth 20% that will be held in week 9 (online via iLearn). This will test understanding of material covered in weeks 5 to 8. For on campus offering this will be held during practical classes.
Assessment Type 1: Examination
Indicative Time on Task 2: 15 hours
Due: Week 5
Weighting: 20%
A 50 minutes long online examination worth 20% that will be held in week 5 (online via iLearn). This will test understanding of material covered in weeks 1 to 4. For on campus offering this will be held during practical classes.
Assessment Type 1: Project
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: Week 7
Weighting: 15%
This assignment deals with concepts in provable privacy and risk assessments of datasets and is due on week 7. The assignment is to be submitted via iLearn.
Assessment Type 1: Examination
Indicative Time on Task 2: 15 hours
Due: Week 13
Weighting: 20%
A 50 minutes long online examination worth 20% that will be held in week 13 (online via iLearn). This will test understanding of material covered in weeks 9 to 12. For on campus offering this will be held during practical classes.
Assessment Type 1: Project
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: Week 12
Weighting: 15%
This assignment deals with identifying privacy risks in datasets and securing access to data and is due on week 12. The assignment is to be submitted via iLearn.
Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: Every Week
Weighting: 10%
Each week, a set of exercises will be available online. One or two questions from the exercises will be the weekly quiz task.
1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:
2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation
Important! Please note that this is a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) unit. You will be expected to bring your own laptop computer (Windows, Mac or Linux), install and configure the required software.
Each week you should complete any assigned readings and review the lecture slides in order to prepare for the lecture. There are three hours of lectures every week. The lectures will be pre-recorded and available online. You are at the very least expected to go through the lecture slides and videos during the first time slot for the lecture, i.e., Tuesdays 1:00 to 3:00 pm. There will be a live Q&A session every week during the second time slot for the lecture, i.e., Thursdays 12:00 to 1:00 pm. During the live Q&A session, you can ask questions related to the lectures and take home exercises.
For details of days, times and rooms consult the timetables webpage.
Take home exercises will commence in week 1.
Please note that you will be required to submit work every week. Failure to do so may result in you failing the unit or being excluded from the exams.
This unit makes use of discussion boards hosted within iLearn . Please post questions there; they are monitored by the staff on the unit.
This material for this unit is in part based on the following textbooks:
iLearn
iLearn is a Learning Management System that gives you access to lecture slides, lecture recordings, forums, assessment tasks, instructions for practicals, discussion forums and other resources.
Echo 360 (formerly known as iLecture)
Digital recordings of lectures are available. Read these instructions for details.
Technology Used
Anaconda, Jupyter Notebook with Python.
Week | Topic | Reading |
1 | Introduction: Mathematical Background, Data Sharing, and Privacy Risks | Lecture Slides |
2 | De-identification and Privacy Attacks | Lecture Slides |
3 | Towards Provable Privacy: K-Anonymity and Related Definitions | Lecture Slides |
4 | Differential Privacy and its Applications | Lecture Slides |
5 | Cryptography Primer and Homomorphic Encryption | Lecture Slides |
6 | Mobile Privacy and Attacks | Lecture Slides |
7 | Privacy Protection for Mobile Apps | Lecture Slides |
8 | Web Privacy | Lecture Slides |
9 | Web Behaviour Re-identification and Defence | Lecture Slides |
10 | Online Tracking and Fingerprinting | Lecture Slides |
11 | Blacklists-based Tracking Prevention | Lecture Slides |
12 | Machine Learning for Privacy Protection | Lecture Slides |
13 | Revision | Lecture Slides |
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:
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 published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) 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 or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@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 help you improve your marks and take control of your study.
The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources.
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
If you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@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.
At the end of the semester, you will receive a grade that reflects your achievement in the unit
Your final grade depends on your performance in each assessment task and on your ability to perform well enough on the hurdle assessment tasks.
For each task, you receive a mark that reflects your standard of performance. Then the different component marks are added up to determine an aggregated mark out of 100. In order to pass the unit, this aggregated mark needs to be at least 50.
Note that none of the assessment tasks in this unit are a hurdle requirement. However, if you do not make a reasonable attempt at the assessments, you will be unlikely to pass the unit.
Your final grade is then a direct reflection of the aggregated mark (provided that you satisfy the hurdle requirements) according to the following:
If you receive special consideration for the module exams, a supplementary exam will be scheduled in the week of the regular exam offering. By making a special consideration application for the module exams you are declaring yourself available for a resit during the supplementary examination period and will not be eligible for a second special consideration approval based on pre-existing commitments. Please ensure you are familiar with the policy prior to submitting an application. You can check the supplementary exam information page on FSE101 in iLearn (bit.ly/FSESupp) for dates, and approved applicants will receive an individual notification one week prior to the exam with the exact date and time of their supplementary examination.
If you are given a second opportunity to sit the final examination as a result of failing to meet the minimum mark required, you will be offered that chance during the same supplementary examination period and will be notified of the exact day and time after the publication of final results for the unit.