What will I learn

• Digital forensics: You will be introduced to digital forensics and digital crime scene investigation, including concepts of digital evidence, digital forensic investigation methodology, legacy and current file systems essentials, registry files, password recovery, data acquisition and forensic examination of computer systems using current commercial forensic tools. We will also consider UK and European Commission rules of evidence, legislative frameworks and how the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Digital Evidence Principles (2012) govern investigations in a law enforcement and corporate environment.
• Computer security: Businesses, the public sector and private individuals increasingly rely on digital systems, which has increased their size, scope and complexity making security and assurance significantly more difficult. There is a correlation between the advances made in computer and network technology, the increased complexity created in its usage and the rise in the level of security required. Digital security may have a strong technological component, but it also has an equally strong physical, social and ethical dimension through the people who both use it and try to subvert it. We will explore the digital security landscape, its technologies and strategies for protection to provide you with a good theoretical underpinning for assessing security requirements and preparing strategies.
• Ethical hacking: We will study different types of network and computer attack vectors and penetration tests. You should become familiar with some of the standard tools, techniques and frameworks which are used to identify weaknesses within computer systems, from scanning and finding vulnerabilities to exploitation and maintaining access.
• Programming: You will be taught the concepts and algorithms behind programming to enable you to use whatever programming language that best suits the problem being faced. You will have the opportunity to develop core skills in programming by learning and applying syntax, problem-solving strategies, and theory common to most programming languages. We also examine professional practices associated with the industry, including key software development concepts such as testing code, version control, functional decomposition and event driven programming, as well as how to interact with non-technical colleagues and clients.
• Software Development: We offer a practical guide to the software development process with associated tools and techniques, such as project management. We focus on modern iterative process models using object-oriented (OO) modelling methods and tools, including techniques for requirements engineering and analysis, architectural design and detailed software design with patterns, through to software implementation and testing.
• Computer Architecture and Operating Systems:  We investigate and analyse the origin, structure and use of the fundamental components of computers, how they represent data, the operating systems (OS) used and networking approaches. We will explore basic OS concepts, such as processes, memory management, drivers and file systems. We cover the main features of Linux, Windows, Unix and Mac OSI, among others.