module
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
SOC2121: Cybercrime
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
This module has two main aims. The first is to provide you with a broad understanding of the various forms of cybercrime; such as phishing scams, malware attacks, intellectual property theft, online sex crimes, disinformation, cyber-terrorism, and cyber-war. Developing your understanding of these different types of crime will also involve you gaining an understanding of how the internet works, the current and ever-changing legal frameworks concerning such online behaviours, and the different forms of cyber-criminals that exist and the different types of targets that their acts cause issues for, such as individuals, organisations, and nation states.
The second involves introducing you to some of the basic techniques used by both law enforcement agencies and the private sector in order to detect, investigate and prevent cyber-attacks. This will involve you learning about investigative tools pertaining to areas such as domain registration data, IP address data, and geolocation. This aspect of the module will be taught to you via practical lab-based sessions which will teach you some of the open source tools that are used by investigators in order to demonstrate how threat actors can be identified and their webs of connected holdings can be mapped for defensive (or offensive) purposes, and how these techniques have been used in high-profile cybercrime cases.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. Demonstrate a good knowledge of cybercrime, including its various forms, and methods used to investigate it 2. Develop and understanding of basic investigative tools and critically assess the data gained from them 3. Demonstrate a good level of computer literacy as it pertains to cybercrime |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. Reflect on the role and impact of cybercrime within the wider context of crime more generally 5. Demonstrate an understanding of the evolutionary arms race between new methods for committing crime and crime detection and investigation methods 6. Evaluate the impact on theoretical criminological models of increased, and diversified, internet-crimes and subsequent changes to law enforcement approaches |
| Personal and Key Skills | 7. Demonstrate ability to work as part of a group on a joint project 8. Demonstrate written analytical skills by producing an essay and technical report to a deadline 9. Demonstrate the ability to present group-based work in a professional manner |