Cyber Security and Forensics

The MSc Cyber Security and Forensics is awarded by the University of Westminster, United Kingdom. The course has been designed with a high degree of relevance to the industry's needs. By nature the course is practitioner-oriented. It provides highly marketable Computer Security and Digital Forensics skills. Cyber Security or IT security, is the protection of information systems from theft or damage to the hardware, the software, and to the information on them, as well as from disruption or misdirection of the services they provide. Digital forensics is identifying, preserving, recovering, analyzing and presenting facts about digital evidence found on computers or digital storage media devices in relation to computer crime.

All students will take the core modules, which are designed to give a comprehensive introduction to this specialized field. The course will cover basic digital forensics and network security, and computer system tools and the Linux/UNIX operating system. It will also deal with digital evidence in a professional manner (that includes adhering to appropriate legal guidelines). You will then follow either the Cyber Security or Digital Forensics pathway within the course (though each lead to the same named degree: the pathways are simply opportunities to specialise within the field). In addition, all students will take a Research Methods module and complete a project module.

The course offers the opportunity to examine a variety of tools available on the open market, and the use of forensic tools to retrieve data from electronic sources. It will also consider the analysis of professional and ethical issues relating to computer security and forensics, and the development of professional competencies, such as report writing and presenting evidence in court.