Masters of Science Software Design with Cybersecurity

Why take this course?
The course will provide students with both theoretical and practical skills to understand and respond to computer security threats in the modern enterprise. It will arm them with a broad range of competencies to successfully engage in many different security career roles in the enterprise. Students will be given a comprehensive insight of the role and practice of security in the enterprise that will enable them to holistically understand the security context and to relate the security processes and lifecycle to the business activities of the organisation and to hence identify and prioritize security activities.
This activity will be supported by developing key security technology competencies in the student cohort. The course will provide a student with a thorough introduction to cryptography developing an understanding of cryptographic algorithms and mechanism. This will, in turn, inform the development of skills in the key areas of network security and computer security – the combination of which provides the security bedrock for the enterprise information technology infrastructure on which the enterprise conducts its business.

What will I experience?
AIT’s Faculty of Engineering and Informatics is housed in one of the most modern and well-equipped facilities of its kind in the country. Lecturers have extensive industry experience which enriches their teaching skills and competencies. You will be part of an exciting software development environment, with advanced research and strong links to industry. You will have the option to undertake an industrial work placement during your third year of the programme giving you real industrial experience while undertaking a challenging project.

What opportunities might it lead to?
Software development is an enormous growth area in ICT engineering. Over 900 software companies are currently in operation in Ireland employing more than 24,000 people. Ireland’s reputation as a centre of software excellence is unrivalled in Europe. It is home to multinational and indigenous firms generating €16 billion of exports annually. The sectors wide-ranging activities include software development, R&D, business services and EMEA/International headquarters.

Partner companies have indicated a clear need for cybersecurity skills that remain as yet unfulfilled by the current supply of graduates at a national level. All of these companies gave input to identifying the types of skills needed and hence to the course content. In some cases this was expressed as broad areas such as the need for students to gave a holistic perspective on security as it pertains to business - these needs have been taken into account in the specification of the Security in the Enterprise module. All stressed the fundamental importance of cryptography. The set of roles covers all the roles in the security value chain from product design through deployment, enterprise risk management through incident handling and recovery. The companies also detailed the type of practitioner skills they needed for these roles and emphasised the importance of combining theory and practice.

Assessment Information
The programme assessment strategy has been devised to support both the programme and module learning outcomes and to foster the development of the intended knowledge, skills and competencies. A wide range of assessment methods suitable for the programme will be used and due consideration has been given by the Programme Board and Programme Management Team to the number of assessable components per year and to the possibility of cross-modular assessment throughout the programme. The assessment workload will be reviewed by the team on an annual basis. All assessment will be at the modular level.