This course looks at cyber attack and defence. Students learn how to assess and identify vulnerabilities and how vulnerabilities are exploited. Students learn the principles and theory of exploitation, the common security models, and how approaches to exploitation and defence have evolved over time.

Students from this course will engage in war games competitions, analyse real world case studies of vulnerabilities in complex software used on widespread systems, and gain an understanding of the technical process of finding and fixing low-level software vulnerabilities and also of the economics and causal factors involved with their real world use.

The course covers techniques and skills including vulnerability classes, Source code auditing Fuzzing Security Bugs Software Security Assurance Taint Analysis Memory Corruption, Overflows, Return Oriented Programming Course coverage will be constantly updated over time to reflect emerging attack and defence methods.

There are numerous formative assessments and activities throughout the course to provide feedback and learning opportunities. These do not directly contribute to your final grade but are expected to be used to provide evidence of your capabilities in your portfolio.

Students need a keen devious and analytical mind. To get the most from this course students will need to engage in independent study and research and be able to act as independent self directed learners.