Program Overview

Cyber Security BSc (Hons)

Overview

Network technologies are constantly evolving and underpin almost everything we do. This degree provides a hands-on approach and strong emphasis on network infrastructure, particularly how you can create and manage secure networks.

Course Structure

Year 1 Core Modules

• Campus Network Design and Security
  • Study network design solutions and current trends in network design including the increased demand for bandwidth and wireless solutions. Get hands-on experience using key network simulation software. You also cover security threats, their solutions, assessing and managing security risk, legal requirements, and social and ethical issues.
  • This is a 30-credit module.
• Programming for Cyber Security
  • Study the fundamental concepts of programming and software development using Python. You also develop your knowledge of multiple open-source computing environments, open-source implementation basics for the Linux operating system and its applications.
  • This is a 30-credit module.
• Secure Computers and Networks
  • Cover a full range of computer and network security issues. Study systematic approaches to managing security risks, identification and authentication, elementary cryptography, network technology and relevant security issues. Learn about the basic network technology including deploying routers, switches, firewalls, cabling and servers as well as communication protocols and topologies. And understand how they're used and how they function in the real world.
  • This is a 30-credit module.
• Systems Design and Databases
  • To produce a successful, robust, user-friendly system or application, you need to start by analysing your stakeholders’ requirements and developing a detailed design.
  • Study the concepts and techniques of analysing and designing systems. Then you can break down and simplify complex systems, and represent them visually using industry-standard approaches. In industry, these visual models are used to communicate designs to developers and stakeholders before implementation.
  • You study other techniques to design and implement relational databases as part of an information system. Using data-modelling techniques, you learn to define how the system stores data and interacts with it.
  • This module has a strong emphasis on professional practice and transferrable practical skills, such as communicating design, structuring workflows with process models and gathering requirements - this provides you with some of the essential skills you need in industry.
  • This is a 30-credit module.

Year 2 Core Modules

• Data Centre Network Infrastructure
  • Progress your knowledge of advanced networks. You develop your understanding of how switches are interconnected and configured to provide network access to local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN) users, including integrating wireless devices.
  • You design and configure a virtual local area network (VLAN) before considering the WAN technologies used to connect small- to medium-sized business networks. Investigate how a virtual private network (VPN) allows a computer to pass data across shared networks while still benefiting from the functionality of a private network.
  • This is a 30-credit module.
• Enterprise Project
  • You develop a solution, proposal, product or service in response to an enterprise challenge set by industry partners or business clients.
  • Working in small teams, you determine the project aims, objectives, roles, tasks, deliverables, schedules and documentation. You take a professional approach, informed by innovative industry practice, to deliver a successful project that meets the set challenge.
  • You develop a solution, proposal, product or service, pitching it to academics and industry experts. You reflect on the project process as a whole and review sustainability, diversity, ethical and legal issues, and evaluate team members’ performance.
  • This is a 30-credit module.
• Ethical Hacking
  • Ethical hackers are skilled in finding and exploiting technical vulnerabilities in networked devices while behaving in a professional and responsible manner. They act lawfully to help organisations identify and resolve security weaknesses and vulnerabilities within their networks.
  • You learn how to perform and document ethical hacks. You explore the key concepts of ethical hacking including penetration testing, attack vectors and models, and vulnerability analysis. And you consider industry-standard hacking tools, learning how to use them in an ethical way.
  • This is a 30-credit module.
• IT Systems and Information Security
  • You explore IT systems and computer information security concepts and practices, as well as their risks, and legal and ethical considerations. You learn how to install, manage and secure network servers and their associated applications.
  • You also learn how to monitor and troubleshoot servers, and develop your understanding of essential services, how systems fail and physical security.
  • This is a 30-credit module.

Optional Work Placement Year

• Work Placement
  • You have the option to spend one year in industry learning and developing your skills. We encourage and support you with applying for a placement, job hunting and networking.
  • You gain experience favoured by graduate recruiters and develop your technical skillset. You also obtain the transferable skills required in any professional environment, including communication, negotiation, teamwork, leadership, organisation, confidence, self-reliance, problem-solving, being able to work under pressure, and commercial awareness.
  • Many employers view a placement as a year-long interview, therefore placements are increasingly becoming an essential part of an organisation's pre-selection strategy in their graduate recruitment process. Benefits include:
    • Improved job prospects
    • Enhanced employment skills and improved career progression opportunities
    • A higher starting salary than your full-time counterparts
    • A better degree classification
    • A richer CV
    • A year's salary before completing your degree
    • Experience of workplace culture
    • The opportunity to design and base your final-year project within a working environment.
  • If you are unable to secure a work placement with an employer, then you simply continue on a course without the work placement.

Final-Year Core Modules

• Computing Project
  • Produce a substantial artefact related to the computing field, and write a report and commented walk-through video, with supervision from our academic staff.
  • You are guided to develop your work-discipline and your professional outlook. Taking full responsibility for your project, carry out an in-depth exploration of a chosen subject area that demonstrates your ability to scope the project, plan, research, analyse, synthesise, and creatively apply and execute what you've already studied. Consider its risks, security and sustainability as well as the legal, social, ethical, equality, diversity and inclusion issues.
  • You develop your professional skills in time management, communication, problem solving and critical thinking.
  • This is a 60-credit module.
• Security Analysis
  • Get a detailed knowledge of the security techniques you need for internet-connected systems, understanding attackers' strategies and how they apply tools and techniques to compromise online systems.
  • Review the latest tools and techniques for attacking and defending computer systems. And cover system, web and application security - understanding how various attacks and defence mechanisms work.
  • This is a 30-credit module.
• Service Management and Information Governance
  • The close relationship between business and IT infrastructure has led to a rise in service-led approaches to management. Consider industry best practice, along with the frameworks and legislation to meet the needs of business, while thinking about strategy and business continuity.
  • This is a 30-credit module.

How You Learn

• You attend a combination of lectures and practical sessions for each module. Lectures concentrate on teaching the principles while practical sessions allow you to put these principles into practice in purpose-built labs. Throughout your practical sessions, you receive feedback on your work and progress. You often work on a piece of work for several weeks building a deeper understanding of the subject as you work. The feedback you receive will help you to get the most out of your learning.
• In your final year, you also undertake a personal project which integrates much of the work you have studied in previous years.

How You Are Assessed

• A variety of assessment methods are used. Your assessments are designed to build on the work you undertake in class, because your learning continues through the assessment period. An in-course assessment often consists of a practical exercise and an associated report helping you to develop both technical and business skills.

Entry Requirements

• 96-112 points plus maths GCSE grade 4, Level 2 Key Skills (Application of Number) or Level 2 Functional Skills.
• If you have Level 4 credits in a related subject from previous study, then credit transfer towards your new course may be possible.
• Find out how many points your qualifications are worth using the UCAS tariff calculator. If your qualifications are not listed, contact our admissions team as we may accept alternatives.
• We may also be able to help you meet the entry requirements through our Summer and Winter University modules.

Employability

• Our computing students go into a wide range of careers, both nationally and globally. Graduates have gone on to work in a range of industries including the power industry, avionics and the pharmaceutical industry. And for national and international companies including Cisco, HMRC, Accenture and Durham Police.
• Professional Placement
  • During your degree, we advertise a variety of paid placement opportunities (subject to availability). You can apply for a year-long supervised work placement between your second and final year. A placement gives you a valuable opportunity to improve your employment prospects by developing new skills and deepening your understanding of your subject.
  • Student selection is carried out by the employers through competitive interviews and often skills tests. Placements are not compulsory but are assessed and contribute to your final degree award.
  • Our placements team gives you help and support throughout the placement process, including guidance on applications and interviews, to help you get a placement that suits you.
  • Our students have been placed in organisations such as IBM, Microsoft, SABIC Petrochemicals and Thomson Reuters.

International Applicants

• International applicants - find out what qualifications you need by selecting your country below.
• Select Your Country:
  • Afghanistan
  • Angola
  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bahrain
  • Bangladesh
  • Belarus
  • Belgium
  • Belize
  • Botswana
  • Brazil
  • Brunei
  • Bulgaria
  • Cameroon
  • Canada
  • Chile
  • China
  • Colombia
  • Croatia
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Ecuador
  • Egypt
  • Estonia
  • Ethiopia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Ghana
  • Greece
  • Hong Kong
  • Hungary
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Iran
  • Iraq
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Ivory Coast
  • Jamaica
  • Japan
  • Jordan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kenya
  • Kosovo
  • Kuwait
  • Laos
  • Latvia
  • Lebanon
  • Libya
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Macau
  • Malawi
  • Malaysia
  • Malta
  • Mauritius
  • Mexico
  • Morocco
  • Myanmar
  • Namibia
  • Nepal
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Nigeria
  • Norway
  • Oman
  • Pakistan
  • Palestine
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Philippines
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Qatar
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Rwanda
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Singapore
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • South Africa
  • South Korea
  • Spain
  • Sri Lanka
  • Sudan
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Syria
  • Taiwan
  • Tanzania
  • Thailand
  • Tunisia
  • Turkey
  • Uganda
  • UK-based agents for international students
  • Ukraine
  • United Arab Emirates
  • USA
  • Uzbekistan
  • Venezuela
  • Vietnam
  • Yemen
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

Professional Accreditation

• This degree is accredited by British Computer Society (BCS), The Chartered Institute for IT, for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered IT Professional. An accredited degree entitles you to professional membership of BCS, which is an important part of the criteria for achieving Chartered IT Professional status through the Institute. Some employers recruit preferentially from accredited degrees and an accredited degree is likely to be recognised internationally.

Other Course Routes

• Foundation Year
  • Study this course with a foundation year if you need additional preparation or if you don't have sufficient grades to join Year 1.
  • BSc (Hons) Cyber Security (with Foundation Year)
• Work Placement
  • Study this course with an optional work placement year, at no extra cost. Alongside this, you can gain valuable experience and engagement with the sector through our shorter work placements, internships and work experience opportunities.
  • Work placements

Full-Time

• Entry to Academic Year
  • Fee for UK Applicants
    • £9,535 a year
  • Fee for International Applicants
    • £17,000 a year

Part-Time

• Entry
  • Fee for UK Applicants
    • £4,635 (120 credits)
  • Length
    • Up to 6 years
  • Attendance
    • Daytime
  • Start Date
    • September

Choose Teesside

• iPad
  • Are you eligible for an iPad, keyboard and up to £300 credit for learning resources?
• Accommodation
  • Live in affordable accommodation right on-campus - from only £100 a week
• Campus
  • Study in our town-centre campus with £280m of recent investment.
• Adobe
  • Study at Europe's first Adobe Creative Campus and develop your creative and digital skills.
• Women in STEM
  • Find out more about how studying a STEM subject opens up a range of career opportunities.