The Faculty of Technology at the University of Sunderland offers a range of undergraduate degree courses, all of which cover the fundamentals of cybersecurity and ethical hacking. Our BSc (Hons) Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics course is accredited by the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences (CSFS) and aims to develop students' skills and knowledge in using ethical hacking to identify, access and recover information held in 'secure' digital media. They will also gain an understanding of current and emergent technologies, as well as the legal, social, ethical and professional responsibilities of computer forensic practitioners. Computer-related crime tends to be a software driven activity and the graduates benefit greatly from the fact that the North East ranks second only to London for the number of regional software companies, providing excellent opportunities for exciting careers in the field.
Core topics inlcude: Computer Forensic Tools and Techniques, Cybercrime Investigations, Cybersecurity Design and Programming.
Teaching is fully up-to-date with the latest developments and is enriched by Sunderland's research that has been classed as 'internationally excellent' by the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF).
The University has strong links with companies such as Northumbria Police, Durham Police, North East Regional Special Operations Unit, Ne-Defence, Sapphire, Accenture and SAGE.
They encourage students to apply for a placement year between their second and third year. These are usually paid, an average of £14,000-£18,000 a year, allowing students to put learning into practice and make meaningful contacts that may lead to future job offers. Recent placement providers include Northumbria Police, SAGE and Accenture.
Facilities
The Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics course is based at the David Goldman Informatics Centre, a high-tech computing environment which has hundreds of computers, making it easy for students to find a free workstation with the software they need.
They have a specialist, dedicated computer forensics lab, which is used for cybercrime investigations, imaging, digital forensic analysis, forensics reconstruction and mobile phone examination.
They are an accredited Cisco Academy and have two laboratories packed with Cisco networking equipment including routers, switches, terminals and specialist equipment for simulating frame relay and ISDN links.
They host high-performance computing platforms, including a Big Data machine and a High Performance Computing Cluster system, for concurrent processing of complext computational tasks. They also have the equipment and licences for their own public mobile cellular network.
Case Studies
One student who has used the carefully constructed modules to thrive in the cybersecurity industry is University of Sunderland graduate, Jonathan Smith. He works as a Digital Forensic Analyst for SYTECH, the largest private digital forensic company in the UK. They work closely with numerous police forces across the UK in order to help work through the large amount of digital evidence which is seized each day.
Jonthan used his academic grounding to gain employment in the industry saying:
"I enjoyed the wide range of modules which greatly increased my skill set. The University is in an excellent location and great support is available from lecturers if you ever need it."
Professor Alastair Irons, the University's Dean of the Faculty of Technology says:
"This course enables students to broaden their skillset and enhance their employment opportunities in both cybersecurity and digital forensics. The UK has a huge skills gap in cybersecurity and our recently revised programme will provide students with a better, more up-to-date programme that will meet employer needs."