Cyber Security

During our MSc Cyber Security course, you’ll develop your knowledge and skills to prepare for a career as a computing security professional. With accreditation from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), you can be confident you’ll graduate with the Cyber-Body of Knowledge (CyBok), industry-standard techniques that so many employers are seeking.

How you learn

At Sheffield Hallam, all our courses are designed to engage you with the world and challenge you to think in new ways. You’ll get to collaborate with others, and you’ll be taught in a supportive environment where you can thrive.

This course explores the fundamentals in network security, where you'll learn to secure networks and detect intrusions through real-world case studies. Your tutorials and workshops will emphasise information security, covering cryptography, access control and risk management for robust cyber protection.

The course also focuses on ethical hacking, teaching you penetration testing techniques to identify and exploit system vulnerabilities. You'll gain expertise in cyber threat intelligence and digital forensics to understand attack vectors and compile evidence for law enforcement. We’ll also prepare you for the BSI ISO 27001 Lead Auditor certification, making sure you’re ready to implement and manage information security within organisational frameworks.

Towards the end of the course, you’ll undertake a significant dissertation project where you’ll be researching a relevant topic. This allows you to tailor your learning towards a specific area – perhaps one you’re keen to pursue as a career. You’ll be supported through your dissertation project by a supervisor, who themselves will be a domain expert.

You learn through:

Key themes

You’ll start by building your knowledge and skills in network security, where you’ll learn how to secure networks and detect intrusions. This progresses into information security that provides further layers of cyber protection – including cryptography, access control and risk management.

You’ll then develop your ethical hacking / pen-testing skills to try and compromise those systems, to understand vectors of attack. This includes learning how to identify security vulnerabilities within operating systems, undertake password attacks, and exploit social engineering to gain system access. You’ll use platforms such as Hack The Box to safely practise and develop your skills in this area.

Once the fundamentals are covered, you’ll further your understanding towards security-measure compliance by working on case studies that reflect industry scenarios. This also prepares you for the Lead Auditor certification – for example, determining whether sensitive data is being properly managed with specific reference to Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability (CIA).

Cyber threat intelligence is another important component of the discipline, where you’ll learn about frameworks – e.g. Mitre Att&ck – and adversary behaviour to help identify attack vectors. Once attacks have happened, you’ll use digital forensics to better understand their origin, compiling evidence to help protect from future threats, and to help law enforcement agents to tackle the source.

Work experience

This course also has a work experience route that offers a placement in industry of up to 12 months.