Program Overview

Master's Degree in Cybersecurity

The Master's Degree in Cybersecurity is offered by the Universitat Politčcnica de Catalunya (UPC) with the mission of providing solid training in the field of information security, with a broad scientific base, to provide society with highly specialized professionals in the fields of data protection, infrastructure protection, and application protection.

General Information

• Duration and start: 1 academic year, 60 ECTS credits, starting in September.
• Schedule and modality: Face-to-face.
• Prices and scholarships: Approximate price of the master's degree without additional expenses (does not include non-academic academic fees or issuance of the title): 1,162 (2,700 for non-residents in the EU).
• Languages: English.
• Place of implementation: Escola Tčcnica Superior d'Enginyeria de Telecomunicació de Barcelona (ETSETB) and Facultat d'Informŕtica de Barcelona (FIB).
• Official title: Registered in the register of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.

Access

• General requirements: Academic requirements for access to a master's degree.
• Specific requirements:
  • To access the master's degree, a B2 level of English is required, which must be accredited at the time of formalizing enrollment.
  • Direct access: The recommended profile for accessing this master's degree is:
    • Degree in Sciences and Technologies of Telecommunications.
    • Degree that enables the exercise of the profession of technical engineer of telecommunications.
    • Degree in Audiovisual Systems Engineering.
    • Degree in Electronic Systems Engineering.
    • Degree in Telecommunication Systems Engineering.
    • Degree in Telematic Engineering.
    • Degree in Electronic Engineering of Telecommunications.
    • Degree in Computer Engineering.
    • Telecommunication Engineering.
    • Computer Engineering.
  • Complementary training: It is considered possible but exceptional for students with other degrees not specified in the recommended entry profile to enter. In these exceptional situations, the Academic Commission of the master's degree may study the case and allow the entry of students with some complementary training outside the 60 ECTS of the master's degree.

Admission Criteria

• The Academic Committee is in charge of decisions on the admission of candidates. The criteria are: academic information (65%); curriculum and professional experience (35%).
• Details of the criteria are as follows: Academic information:
  • Final average grade for the degree that grants access to the master's degree.
  • Ranking of the university that issues the previous title, using the most common classifications (e.g., ARWU, QS World University, etc.).
  • Academic performance in the previous title in subjects in the field of computer science, telecommunications, and mathematics.
• Curriculum and professional experience:
  • Suitability of the candidate's previous title. Titles of degrees in disciplines in the field of computer science or science and technology of telecommunications are preferred.
  • Experience in innovation and research projects.

Places

• 40 places available.

Pre-enrollment

• Pre-enrollment for this master's degree is currently closed.

Study Plan

First Quadrimester

• Malware (5 credits)
• Network Traffic Monitoring and Analysis (5 credits)
• Data Protection (5 credits)
• Network Security (5 credits)
• Security in Applications (5 credits)
• Blockchain (5 credits)
• Security Management (5 credits)

Second Quadrimester

• Network Security: Authentication and Authorization (5 credits)
• Cybersecurity Use Cases (5 credits)
• Quantum Cryptography (5 credits)
• Introduction to Research I (5 credits)
• Practices in Quantum Computing and Artificial Intelligence (3 credits)
• Data Privacy (5 credits)
• Software-Defined Security (SDS) (5 credits)
• Security in Embedded System Hardware: Primitives, Weaknesses, and Countermeasures (3 credits)
• Master's Thesis (12 credits)

Professional Outlets

• Area of information and communication technologies.
• Computer programming area.
• Public administration.
• Security analyst.
• Security risk manager.
• Security consultant.
• Digital forensic analyst.
• Ethical hacker.
• SOC (Security Operations Center) manager.
• CSO (Chief Security Officer) in technology companies.
• CSO in non-technology companies but with IT departments.

Competences

Transversal Competences

• Entrepreneurship and innovation.
• Sustainability and social commitment.
• Knowledge of a third language (preferably English).
• Teamwork and solvent use of information resources.

Specific Competences

• Design high-value applications based on information and communication technologies (ICT) applied to the field of cybersecurity.
• Identify and select the most appropriate tools for detecting and analyzing security attacks and incidents according to their nature and the environment in which they occurred.
• Identify and analyze applicable laws and regulations in cybersecurity, and understand the ethical implications that cyberdefense techniques may have on user privacy and know how to minimize them.
• Analyze cryptographic protocols for encryption and key management from a mathematical point of view according to their robustness.
• Design, implement, and operate authentication, authorization, and auditing protocols for information systems such as databases.
• Apply network traffic monitoring and analysis techniques for the detection of cybersecurity attacks and incident investigation.
• Design, develop, detect, analyze, and eliminate malicious code capable of infecting a current operating system and hiding in it.
• Identify and apply techniques to maintain the security and privacy of distributed applications built on internet protocols at all times.
• Elaborate individually an original work and present and defend it before a university tribunal, consisting of an engineering project in the field of cybersecurity in which the competences acquired in the master's teachings are synthesized.

Quality Seals

• Consult the quality indicators of the degree on the portal of University Studies of Catalonia of the Agency for the Quality of the University System of Catalonia.

Academic Organization: Norms, Calendars

• Teaching center UPC: Escola Tčcnica Superior d'Enginyeria de Telecomunicació de Barcelona (ETSETB) and Facultat d'Informŕtica de Barcelona (FIB).
• Academic responsible for the program: Óscar Esparza.
• Academic calendar: Academic calendar of university studies of the UPC.
• Academic norms: Academic norms of master's studies of the UPC.