Overview

Cybersecurity, studied within the Bachelor of Science at The University of Western Australia, prepares students to protect people, organisations and their data from cyber attacks. It combines technical depth in computing with an understanding of risk, ethics and professional responsibility. Almost every technology career now involves some element of security, which makes the ability to design, build and maintain secure systems valuable across many industries.

What You'll Learn

• Core concepts of cybersecurity and information security, including protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information

• Programming in Python and computational thinking as a foundation for technical work

• Systems programming and the way computer networks operate

• Defensive cybersecurity, with a focus on detecting and responding to threats

• Penetration testing as a way of assessing how well systems stand up to attack

• Secure coding practices for building resilient software

• Agile web development and professional computing practice

• The ethical and moral questions raised by digital technology

• Risk assessment, including weighing the costs and benefits of security measures

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to build, run, analyse and test secure computer systems, and to recognise and respond to cybersecurity challenges. They will draw on mathematical, technical and business methods to safeguard information systems in varied industry and real-world contexts, and evaluate risk to decide how best to limit the impact of a breach. Students will understand the legal and ethical responsibilities of a cybersecurity professional, contribute to and lead teams on practical projects, and explain security and encryption processes and findings clearly in speech and writing.