DM572: Networks and Cybersecurity

Study Board for Natural Scientific IT Programmes

Teaching language: Danish or English depending on the teacher, but English if international students are enrolled
EKA: N330085112, N330085102
Assessment: Second examiner: None, Second examiner: Internal
Grading: Pass/Fail, 7-point grading scale
Offered in: Odense
Offered in: Autumn
Level: Bachelor

STADS ID (UVA): N330085101
ECTS value: 10

Date of Approval: 07-04-2025


Duration: 1 semester

Version: Approved - active

Internal Course Code

DM572

Comment

The course is co-read with DM586: Networks and Cybersecurity (7,5 ECTS), and AI510: Cybersecurity and Innovation (10 ECTS)

DM572 (10 ECTS) is removed from the Computer science study program (Bachelor), but is still offered to minor in computer science and as an elective for data science. E24 offers a 7.5 ECTS version of the course: DM586: Network and Cybersecurity (7.5 ECTS).

Entry requirements

The course cannot be followed by students who have passed DM557, DM586 or AI510.

Academic preconditions

Students taking the course are expected to: Have knowledge of programming.

The course builds on the knowledge acquired in the course DM550.

Course introduction

The purpose of this course is to give an understanding of the issues involved in networks and in cybersecurity, for prevention and detection of security problems.

Expected learning outcome

The learning objective of the network part of the course is that the student demonstrates the ability to:

  • Explain basic network concepts and the structure of the internet
  • Explain the metrics used to measure the performance of computer networks
  • Explain application layer protocols such as HTTP, DNS, and SMTP
  • Explain the functionality and interfaces for the application layer of the TCP/IP model and the functionality of DNS
  • Explain the requirements for transport layer protocols, the difference between UDP and TCP, and how to secure TCP
  • Explain functionality and interfaces for the network layer and IP, including IPv4 and IPv6
  • Explain functionality and interfaces for the link layer, including error detection, error correction, and multiple access channel protocols.
  • Use a network traffic analyser to inspect and dissect network traffic
The learning objective of the security part of the course is that the student demonstrates the ability to:
  • Explain the basic cybersecurity concepts, including protection goals, assumptions, killchain, threat analyses, digital certificates and signatures, as well as symmetric and asymmetric cryptography
  • Explain all steps in the user access control procedure, types of authentication, attacks on authentication secrets, and alternatives to traditional text passwords
  • Explain the human factors in security and how they can be exploited in social engineering attacks in general and in the case of phishing in particular
  • Explain the basic privacy paradigms as well as the threats to data confidentiality, including OSINT, and how these threats can be countered using data anonymisation and privacy design practices
  • Use specialised tools to perform guessing attacks on password hash files and recover wifi passwords
  • Use attack trees as a modelling tool in threat analyses
  • Perform anonymization of data sets

Content

The following main topics are contained in the course: Layers in networks, basic network concepts, the TCP/IP model, network protocols, basic cryptography (symmetric and public key), key distribution and user authentication, transport level security, wireless network security, electronic mail security, intruders, malicious software, penetration testing, social engineering, human factors.

Literature

See itslearning for syllabus lists and additional literature references.

Examination regulations

Exam element a)

Timing

Autumn

Tests

Written assignment

EKA

N330085112

Assessment

Second examiner: None

Grading

Pass/Fail

Identification

Full name and SDU username

Language

Normally, the same as teaching language

Examination aids

All common aids allowed

ECTS value

2.5

Exam element b)

Timing

January

Tests

Written exam

EKA

N330085102

Assessment

Second examiner: Internal

Grading

7-point grading scale

Identification

Student Identification Card - Exam number

Language

Normally, the same as teaching language

Duration

3 hours

Examination aids

The exam is with limited aids. Only the following aids are allowed:

  • textbooks, notes, lecture presentations, compendiums, and formula collections, etc.
Internet is not allowed. However, you may access the course page in itslearning to open system "DE–Digital Exam" and complete any tests within the system.

ECTS value

7.5

Additional information

If 9 or fewer students are registered for the re-exam, this will be changed to an oral exam, 30 minutes no preparation.

Indicative number of lessons

65 hours per semester

Teaching Method

Planned lessons:

Total number of planned lessons: 65 
Hereof: 
Common lessons in classroom/auditorium: 65

The lectures facilitates an introduction to new material and topics, which in the skills training phase are processed with exercises prepared at home and discussed in class to validate the acquired knowledge.
 
Other planned teaching activities: 
Reading from text books, solving homeworks and applying acquired knowledge to practical projects.

Teacher responsible

Name E-mail Department
Peter Mayer mayer@imada.sdu.dk Concurrency

Additional teachers

Name E-mail Department City
Fabrizio Montesi fmontesi@imada.sdu.dk Institut for Matematik og Datalogi

Timetable

Administrative Unit

Institut for Matematik og Datalogi (datalogi)

Team at Registration

NAT

Offered in

Odense

Recommended course of study

Profile Education Semester Offer period

Transition rules

Transitional arrangements describe how a course replaces another course when changes are made to the course of study. 
If a transitional arrangement has been made for a course, it will be stated in the list. 
See transitional arrangements for all courses at the Faculty of Science.