Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Special topics in computing science at the 300 level. Topics that are of current interest or are not covered in regular curriculum will be offered from time to time depending on availability of faculty and student interest.

COURSE DETAILS:

Cyber attacks are increasing in frequency, severity and sophistication. This course introduces core concepts, principles, and practices of cybersecurity in the context of an evolving global threat landscape. Students will examine the fundamentals of cybersecurity risk assessment, cyber threat intelligence, and cyber defense strategies, developing the situational awareness needed to understand and respond to emerging threats. The course emphasizes informed decision-making under uncertainty through probabilistic risk analysis and analytics, enabling students to identify, evaluate, and choose appropriate measures for threat mitigation and remediation.
The primary goal is to provide students with hands-on experience in cybersecurity risk management. In addition to the lecture component, students will engage with community clients to assess their cybersecurity needs, evaluate existing security practices, and develop recommendations to enhance their organizational threat resilience. The classroom experience provides practical tools, analytical frameworks, and foundational knowledge needed for client projects. The clinical component focuses on helping organizations adopt technical and managerial best practices while giving students real-world experience in cybersecurity consulting and risk management.

Topics

• Cyber attacks and defense strategies
• Advanced persistent threats and zero-day exploits
• Cyber risk assessment, mitigation, and management
• Probability concepts, predictive analytics, and interpretations
• Markovian processes and stochastic models
• Time series anomaly detection and dynamic scoring
• Cyber-physical systems and operational technology (OT)
• The role of AI and machine learning
• Self-evolving detection systems
• Autonomous defence

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

• Develop a broad understanding of core cybersecurity concepts, principles, and practices, including how advanced malware and cyber threats evade traditional antivirus systems. Explore the resulting risks to critical IT and OT environments and the growing role of AI- and machine learning-driven autonomous cyber defence solutions.
• Understand fundamental aspects of cybersecurity risk assessment, mitigation and management based on probabilistic methods and methodical processes; learn how to systematically evaluate alternative cyber defence strategies.
• Prepare to provide supervised hands-on cybersecurity services on a day-to-day basis to a small business, public sector organization, or nonprofit; understand how to project plan and communicate cybersecurity risks and solutions with organization and business leaders with no prior cybersecurity knowledge or experience.
• Gain awareness of practical cybersecurity challenges and opportunities as well as compelling career perspectives arising from this rapidly advancing field of computer science and digital technologies.

Grading

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

• Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate: Provided at no cost to you via Coursera, courtesy of Google.org. Access the certificate via the email sent to your preferred email address.
• Course materials (articles, assignments, lecture and tutorial notes, videos, et cetera) will be provided online through the course home page.

REQUIRED READING:

RECOMMENDED READING: