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Athlone Institute of Technology

Software Design with Cybersecurity

Why take this course?
The course will provide students with both theoretical and practical skills to understand and respond to computer security threats in the modern enterprise. It will arm them with a broad range of competencies to successfully engage in many different security career roles in the enterprise. Students will be given a comprehensive insight of the role and practice of security in the enterprise that will enable them to holistically understand the security context and to relate the security processes and lifecycle to the business activities of the organisation and to hence identify and prioritise security activities.

This activity will be supported by developing key security technology competencies in the student cohort. The course will provide a student with a thorough introduction to cryptography developing an understanding of cryptographic algorithms and mechanism. This will, in turn, inform the development of skills in the key areas of network security and computer security – the combination of which provides the security bedrock for the enterprise information technology infrastructure on which the enterprise conducts its business.

What will I experience?
AIT's Faculty of Engineering and Informatics is housed in one of the most modern and well-equipped facilities of its kind in the country. Lecturers have extensive industry experience which enriches their teaching skills and competencies. You will be part of an exciting software development environment, with advanced research and strong links to industry. You will have the option to undertake an industrial work placement during your third year of the programme giving you real industrial experience while undertaking a challenging project.

Work Placement
The Work Placement & Professional Practice provide in this programme provides learners with a comprehensive experience of the working environment while deepening specialist skills relevant to the programme. The module responds to the requirements of industry and relevant professional bodies as it facilitates in-depth student induction, extended professional practice, and immersion in contextualised specialised technologies and techniques.

Entry requirements

Minimum Entry Requirements:
Applicants should hold a 4 year honours degree in software design or an equivalent qualification with a minimum grade of 2.1 (60%). In line with institute policies, non-native English speakers are required to have an IELTS level of 6.0 or higher.

Duration

1 Year full-time.

Careers or further progression

Career Prospects
The proposed programme provides excellent employment opportunities for graduates. Historically there has been a significant shortage of graduates in the ICT area. According to the Forfás Vacancy Overview Report, 35% of all difficult to fill vacancies were for the ICT sector, primarily for professional roles in software development including software developers: mobile (iOS/Android), database (with Oracle/SQL), web, cloud; with skills in Java, JavaScript, C++, and .Net the most frequently mentioned. The proposed programme will provide these technical competencies. There was a 5% increase in employment in the software sector between quarter 4 2015 and quarter 4 2016, representing an additional 4,500 persons (Skills Ireland 2016).

In particular the available roles include:
1. Security Architect (SA)
2. Security Risk Analyst (SRA)
3. Security Operations Analyst (SOA)
4. Security Platform Engineer (SPE)
5. Secure Software Developer (SSD)

What opportunities might it lead to?
Software development is an enormous growth area in ICT engineering. Over 900 software companies are currently in operation in Ireland employing more than 24,000 people. Ireland's reputation as a centre of software excellence is unrivalled in Europe. It is home to multinational and indigenous firms generating €16 billion of exports annually. The sectors wide-ranging activities include software development, R&D, business services and EMEA/International headquarters.

Partner companies have indicated a clear need for cyber security skills that remain as yet unfulfilled by the current supply of graduates at a national level. All of these companies gave input to identifying the types of skills needed and hence to the course content. In some cases this was expressed as broad areas such as the need for students to gave a holistic perspective on security as it pertains to business - these needs have been taken into account in the specification of the Security in the Enterprise module. All stressed the fundamental importance of cryptography. The set of roles covers all the roles in the security value chain from product design through deployment, enterprise risk management through incident handling and recovery. The companies also detailed the type of practitioner skills they needed for these roles and emphasised the importance of combining theory and practice.

Further Study
Students who successfully complete this programme will be eligible to pursue research opportunities at AIT at PhD level.

Further enquiries

Admissions Queries (Current or Prospective Students)
e: admissions@iat.ie
t: + 353 (0)90 646 8000
t: + 353 (0)90 646 8148

General Student Registration Queries
e: registration@ait.ie

Comment

Course Award: Masters of Science
Course NFQ Level: Level 9
Department: Dept of Electronics & Informatics

Assessment method

Assessment Information
The programme assessment strategy has been devised to support both the programme and module learning outcomes and to foster the development of the intended knowledge, skills and competencies. A wide range of assessment methods suitable for the programme will be used and due consideration has been given by the Programme Board and Programme Management Team to the number of assessable components per year and to the possibility of cross-modular assessment throughout the programme. The assessment workload will be reviewed by the team on an annual basis. All assessment will be at the modular level.

Enrolment and start dates

Course Commencement Date: September 2020

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