Study at ITB

Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Computing in Information Security and Digital Forensics

Minimum Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirement for standard entrants is a level 7 award in computing.

Aim

The purpose of this degree is to equip students with the skills and knowledge to embark upon a rewarding career in the Information Security industry. Digital information technology has made significant strides in recent years and the impact of this has transformed how organisations do business through the widespread adoption of communication such as the Internet, digital video, mobile computing and telecommunications, USB and solid state storage devices, multimedia and interactive TV. Criminal elements have been quick to see the potential in accessing personal and corporate data using information technologies vulnerabilities and the
opportunity of anonymous remote access. So information security has become
an essential element of organisation structure to minimise the risk to corporate data and to protect company reputation in an increasing volitile information technology world.

Course Structure & Delivery

This course is aimed at graduates from the BN311 degree at ITB and at graduates with level 7 or higher qualifications who are currently working in the information security industry. This course will be delivered in a flexible
manner (blended learning, workshops, remote delivery) to enable graduates in the workforce to upgrade their qualifications while keeping their daily jobs.

All course material is available online through Moodle facility including lecture notes and exercises.

Classes are delivered each week in person but exercises/lab work can be done on students own laptop using software applications / license key provided by the college.  Most exercises are report based.

We expect some attendance in the college as this promotes a class networking and companion experience for the student but attendance is not compulsory.

 

Course Content

Semester 1
IT Governance, Risk Management & Compliance Advanced Network Security Biometrics Leadership & Entrepreneurship Individual Project (Part 1)

Semester 2
Cyber Crime Investigations Application Security and Secure Programming Disaster Recovery and Business Continuance Information Retrieval and Text Processing Individual Project (Part 2)

 

Cyber Crime Investigation :

Module Aims :

The main aims of this module are to advance the students knowledge of criminal
and malicious activities taking place on the Internet. The module covers the main
internet communication applications and web services, and explains the
vulnerabilities to users in each arena. Correct forensic investigation procedures
are covered as well as forensics techniques for examining cyber data.

Having successfully completed this module, the student will be able to:

• understand the risk to information security and system integrity rom
  Internet connectivity
• apply forensics procedures to investigating illegal activities on networks attached to the Internet
• appreciate the legal situation when carrying out a Cyber-crime investigation
• understand how email systems work and trace span or phishing emails
• understand how web sites work and the vulnerabilities to being attacked
• implement defence systems to Internet attack on web services
• carry out a forensic investigation of cybercrime activity.

Advanced Network Security

Module Aims :

Students will gain advanced knowledge of core security technologies as well as how to develop security policies and mitigate risks. Specifically the student will secure routers and security appliances to an advanced level. Students will design, configure and verify advanced site-to-site and remote VPN configurations on both routers and security devices. Skills learned will include installation, troubleshooting and monitoring of routers and security appliances to maintain integrity, confidentiality and availability of data and devices.

Having successfully completed this module, the student will be able to:

• Implement, monitor and maintain a secure network consisting of routers and security appliances.
• Understand the role of AAA in securing security appliances.
• Understand the advanced capabilities of the IOS feature set.
• Design and understand advanced VPN configurations, both site-to-site and remote.
• Understand deep layer application inspection for routers and security devices.
• Configure routers and security devices on the network perimeter
  with advanced IOS Software security features.
• Configure AAA on a security device.
• Design and configure site-to-site advanced VPN configurations using advanced IOS features on both routers and security appliances.
• Design and configure advanced remote VPN configurations.
• Configure layer protocol inspection and Modular Policy Framework for Security Appliances.

 

Biometrics

Module Aims:

This module aims to introduce the student to the fundamentals of biometrics and to develop an appreciation of the practical issues in using biometric systems in information security. The aim is to develop an understanding to the level required to competently select, deploy, test and administer a biometric system.

Having successfully completed this module, the student will be able to:

• The role of biometrics in information security.
• The generic elements of modern biometric systems.
• The strengths and weaknesses of existing biometric systems.
• The advantages and disadvantages of individual biometrics for a given application.
• Testing and evaluating the performance of biometric systems.
• Ethical issues associated with biometrics.
• Select the most appropriate biometric for a given application.
• Test and evaluate the biometric system.
• Administer the system.
• Work with basic signal and image acquisition systems.
• Complete documentation to accompany designed biometric
  systems.
• Defend proposed biometric systems in an oral presentation.

Leadership and Entrepreneurship

Module Aims:

The module aims to provide the students with the skills to be effective supervisors, team leaders and first-line managers. It also aims to provide skills in how to transform technological inventions into business concepts. It offers a framework for understanding the entrepreneurial process and exposes students to the challenges faced by entrepreneurs.

The module also addresses issues of discovery, development, and diffusion of technological innovations into business and it specifically aims to provide students with the skills to commercialise technological discoveries arising from research. The module integrates both an academic and practitioner view of the approaches to dealing with the challenges involved in managing technological innovation and new business development.

Research Project (Part 1 & 2)

Module Aims:

The project provides students with an opportunity to undertake a substantial, individual computing project and take responsibility for a full system life cycle.

The project enables students to consolidate and further their chosen area of study and to integrate knowledge and skills acquired from other studies.

The project team aims to motivate and support students in their intellectual development and the development of their independence, confidence and self-esteem.

The project also provides a vehicle for the development of students’ written and oral communication skills.

IT Governance, Risk Management & Compliance

Module Aims:

Research the relationship and dependences between IT Governance, Risk Management and Compliance in the modern business. Review of existing rules and regulations for compliance. Investigation of future possible legislation governing compliance and its effects. Development of knowledge and skills in the adoption and understanding of the risks and benefits of being compliant.

Having successfully completed this module, the student will acheive the following :

• To understand how proper use of IT GRC in the organisation is necessary to get value from IT investments, in managing IT resources and to mitigate IT risks
• Understand the processes of recording and monitoring, be they
  physical, logical or organizational,needed to enable compliance with legislative or industry mandates as well as internal policies.
• Analyze the process by which an organization sets the risk tolerance, identifies potential risks and prioritizes the tolerance for risk based on the organization’s business objectives.
• Understand how Risk Management leverages internal controls to manage and mitigate risk throughout the organization.
• Research how Governance is responsible for creating organizational transparency by defining the mechanisms an organization uses to ensure that its constituents follow established processes and policies.
• Develop a governance strategy to implement systems to monitor and record current business activity, takes steps to ensure compliance with agreed policies, and provides for corrective action in cases where the rules have been ignored or misconstrued.

 

Application Security and Secure Programming

Module Aims :

Gain an insight into the inherent security drawbacks in various programming languages and architectures. Investigate best practices in the adoption of secure coding practices. To develop the essential and fundamental skills for programmers and developers to secure applications.

Having successfully completed this module, the student will have abilities to:

• Understand the theory behind vulnerabilities of unsecured code.
• Compare and contrast programming languages for secure features
• Understand uses of endorsed secure coding practices.
• Understand the limitations of developing secure code
• Design and implement a secured application.
• Enhance skills on writing safer code
• Mastery in the improvement of security in applications
• Understand how to analyse code for vulnerabilities and research solutions
• Select from range of solutions the most appropriate for problem
• Use debugging tools to identify insecure code

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuance

Module Aims:

Analysis of IT failure modes and how such failures impact on the ability of a business to operate. Study of disaster recovery technologies in an IT environment. Contribute to and evaluate disaster recovery plans for businesses. Investigation of the role of high speed resilient network infrastructures in providing for business continuance.

Having successfully completed this module, the student will acheive the following :

• An understanding of the sources of risk to a business’s IT infrastructure and the various methods available to prepare for, mitigate against and recover from disastrous events.
• A detailed knowledge of network and data redundancy technologies.
• Be able to evaluate an organisation’s preparedness for disaster events and its ability to quickly recover from such incidents.
• Be able to choose technologies and solutions that fit a business’s needs and obligations for disaster recovery and business continuance.
• An ability to match an IT DRP (Disaster Recovery Plan) with the goals of a business’s overall DRP.
• Be able to evaluate and implement DRPs commissioned from IT
  consultancy providers.
• Have developed systematic troubleshooting and resolution skills in
  the area of IT disaster recovery.
• Have developed an insight into the different philosophies of risk
  management as it pertains to IT infrastructures.

 

Information Retrieval and Text Processing

Module Aims:

To give students an understanding of how natural language processing (NLP) techniques and machine learning techniques can be applied to text mining and information extraction.

Having successfully completed this module, the student will be able to:

• Discuss the benefits to business in adopting text mining related
  technologies.
• Explain how NLP techniques can be used to apply a structure to a text document in preparation for text mining.
• Discuss how prediction and clustering techniques can be applied to text mining.
• Discuss how documents are modelled and queried for information retrieval.

 

How to Apply ?

Apply Online now

For further details please contact the marketing team on 01 885 1000 or e-mail: info@itb.ie