Unit information: Cybersecurity Project in 2020/21

Unit name	Cybersecurity Project
Unit code	MATHM0027
Credit points	60
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
Unit director	Professor. Johnson
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	To depend on specific project, but to include core units of MSc
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Mathematics
Faculty	Faculty of Science

Description including Unit Aims

Students will be required to develop and implement a novel solution to a relevant problem in cybersecurity; they will be assigned to a project in small groups by the Unit Organiser, and will be expected to work collaboratively. They will be required to engage with existing literature and solutions, to develop a solution as a group and to present the solution both in an individual written and a group oral presentation. Where possible, this solution should be tested with real or synthetic cybersecurity data, and careful consideration should be given to how any solution will perform in practice and scale with increasing amounts of data.

Intended Learning Outcomes

The projects offered will vary each year, and each project will have a different specific focus. In terms of general skills, by the end of the unit the student will have:

ILO1 Synthesised information presented in taught courses and research papers.

ILO2 Developed experience and skills in report-writing and oral presentation

ILO3 Developed experience and skills in working collaboratively, recording progress and sharing code.

ILO4 Gained experience in developing a novel solution on a project with a fixed deadline, and in taking ownership of and managing a project.

ILO5 Where projects are presented by external or industrial partners, students will have liaised appropriately and professionally to report interim progress as appropriate.

Teaching Information

Guidance from supervisor through group meetings, leading to group work and an individual written report. The supervisor will provide explicit feedback on one draft of the written project and on one draft of the slides for the final talk.

Assessment Information

Group Activities

• 40% of the marks for the unit will be awarded for the quality of the solution obtained, as evidenced through a joint written report (approximately 5000 words). 10% of the marks for the unit will be given for an oral presentation: each member of the group will present a separate sub-topic within an overall talk of 40-60 minutes, and some marks will be given for coordination and coherence of the complete presentation. Both activities will evaluate the quality of the solution obtained, and describe the results generated. The marks will reflect both mathematical insight and applicability of the solution; By default this quality score will be a common mark awarded to all members of the group, though this can be adjusted at the discretion of the Unit Organiser and Examiners to reflect individual contributions which differ from expectations.

Individual Activities

• 50% of the marks for the unit will be obtained for the quality of an individual written report 'that gives introduction, context, discussion and conclusions (approximately 3000 words).

Reading and References

To depend on specific project