Course Coordinator:Dennis Desmond (ddesmond@usc.edu.au) School:School of Science, Technology and Engineering
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus. |
Please go to usc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
This course offers an in-depth exploration of vulnerability and threat intelligence assessments in the context of networked systems and protected devices. Cyber Security is an ever-evolving field, and understanding the methods for identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities and threats is crucial to safeguarding critical information assets. Throughout the course, students will gain practical knowledge and hands-on experience to assess, prioritise, and respond to potential cyber risks effectively
Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
Blended learning | |||
Learning materials – Asynchronous learning material, including videos, articles and review questions | 2hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On campus workshop | 2hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
Online | |||
Learning materials – Asynchronous learning material, including videos, articles and review questions | 2hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Online workshop | 2hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
300 Level (Graduate)
12 units
Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
1 | Discern and analyse evolving threats and justify the necessity of threat intelligence assessments for informed cybersecurity strategies | Knowledgeable |
2 | Apply advanced risk assessment methods to devise strategies for resolving intricate vulnerabilities in complex computing environments. | Creative and critical thinker |
3 | Design and advocate principles to address scalability, fault tolerance, and security considerations in a complex security context. | Empowered |
4 | Analyse and assess the influence of the vulnerability management lifecycle on its role in sustaining resilient systems over time and effectively reducing risk. |
Empowered Sustainability-focussed |
5 | Clearly articulate insights and outcomes to specialist and non-specialist audiences. | Engaged |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
SEC200 or SEC301
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Students will participate in continuous peer and self-assessment during tutorials.
Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
All | 1 | Portfolio | Individual | 30% | 1000 words |
Week 5 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 2 | Case Study | Individual | 40% | 1500 words |
Week 10 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 3 | Oral and Written Piece | Group | 30% | 10 min presentation and report (1500 words) |
Exam Period | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All - Assessment Task 1:Doom Collection | |||||||||||||
Goal: | The goal of this task is assemble a collection of open source articles on potential threats to Australia's networks and report on findings as they pertain to expert consensus on what are the most probable threats to Australia's critical infrastructures. |
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Product: | Portfolio | ||||||||||||
Format: | Written report showing numerous cyber based threats facing public and private entities supporting Australia's critical infrastructure. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: |
All - Assessment Task 2:Threat Intelligence Analysis | ||||||||||||||||
Goal: | This task will provide students with the opportunity to view and assess actual threat data as provided by an expert provider in threat intelligence and analysis. |
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Product: | Case Study | |||||||||||||||
Format: | Students will be presented with a threat intelligence dashboard and/or threat intelligence report concerning attempted intrusions into a protected networked system. Based on threat intelligence reporting, students will provide a detailed analysis on the details of the report and its applicability to their networked system. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: |
All - Assessment Task 3:Treat Scenario | |||||||||||||
Goal: | In an effort to properly prepare students for employment in the public and private sectors, and create a capable workforce, students will construct threat intelligence cyber training scenarios for use in the public and private sectors. |
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Product: | Oral and Written Piece | ||||||||||||
Format: | Each group will construct a suitable cyber security based training scenario which will offer employees the opportunity to deal with a cyber security incident. Deliverables include a report and 10 min presentation. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: |
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Not applicable
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
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For help with course-specific advice, for example what information to include in your assessment, you should first contact your tutor, then your course coordinator, if needed.
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