COIT20246 - Networking and Cyber Security

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will learn how Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure supports the operation of modern organisations. You will investigate the structure of the Internet, design wired and wireless networks, and deploy applications using virtualisation and cloud computing. You will discover mechanisms for securing ICT infrastructure and applications by studying the motivation of attackers and the common vulnerabilities they exploit. You will also learn frameworks and tools organisations use to manage cloud infrastructure, reduce cyber security risks, and deliver IT services to customers. As you explore cyber security and Internet technologies via hands-on laboratory tasks, you will reflect on the impact of those technologies on society, and your responsibilities as a future ICT professional. This unit gives you the broad knowledge of networking and cyber security that all ICT professionals require and is a starting point for a career as a cyber security analyst, cloud engineer, or network operations specialist.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 8
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 3 - 2024 Profile
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Rockhampton
Sydney
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Rockhampton
Sydney
Term 3 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Online Quiz(zes) 35%
2. Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books 35%
3. Project (applied) 30%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 79.71% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 30.67% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Student evaluations and informal student feedback
Feedback
Students felt overwhelmed by the tutorial tasks plus regular deadlines for assessment activities.
Recommendation
Reduce the number of online quizzes, as well as the weight of draft assessments (e.g. draft journal), and provide additional guidance on amount of effort required for each task (e.g. identify what is to be included in journal for each tutorial task).
Action Taken
Reduced online quizzes from 2 to 1, while maintaining the end of term in-class quiz. The weight of the drafts was reduced in Term 2 2023, however it was considered too low (5%) for the amount of effort students contributed, and therefore drafts remain the same as Term 1 2023 (around 10%). Tutorial instructions were updated to list the items that must be included in the journal. Together these changes provide a reasonable balance of encouraging regular study while not overloading students.
Source: Informal student feedback
Feedback
Some students from a non-technical background found the assessments difficult.
Recommendation
Review the assessment intructions for clarity (e.g. avoid too many technical terms, add cross-references to unit material), and provide additional videos that step through the assessments as well as demonstrate key concepts needed for the assessments.
Action Taken
Project specification was updated with the aim to clarify the expectations. A video explanation of the project was included each term. Also more activities directly related to the project were included in the tutorials.
Source: Teaching team feedback
Feedback
The group project was challenging, both in forming groups and ensuring team members made sufficient contributions.
Recommendation
Allocate time in tutorial classes for group formation and work on the group project, and investigate methods to encourage and monitor contributions from all team members.
Action Taken
A project initiation activity was included in Week 4 tutorial. A project plan milestone was introduced so that by Break Week students were reminded to document their group communication plan and schedule of tasks. These changes have improved group formation, however there are still some students not forming a group until Week 6. GitHub was introduced for the project, where students maintain their report on GitHub allowing contributions of each student to be monitored. This has helped in encouraging more active involvement in the project, however there are very few marks allocated based on the GitHub contributions.
Source: Teaching team feedback
Feedback
Project marking criteria did not provide students with enough guidance of expectations.
Recommendation
Revise the project marking criteria to include more examples of expecations at a wider range of levels (e.g. Excellent, Good, Poor).
Action Taken
A detailed project marking rubric was developed that identifies expectations for varying levels. This has allowed more consistent feedback to students.
Source: Unit Coordinator reflections
Feedback
While GitHub is required for the journal and project, some students are not using it regularly, leading to a large amount of work just before deadlines and problems with teamwork.
Recommendation
Include tasks in tutorials that require students to analyse and reflect on their own GitHub contributions and the contributions of students in their class, and update the marking criteria to give more weight for using GitHub.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Feedback from tutors and student evaluations
Feedback
Students are rushed in some tutorials, limiting their time to gain an in-depth understanding of important concepts.
Recommendation
Identify tutorial tasks that can be simplified (to reduce time allocated), moved as optional tasks, or removed entirely.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit Coordinator reflections and feedback from tutors
Feedback
Some students are not clear on what is expected/allowed when collaborating with other students and using generative AI for seeking information.
Recommendation
Provide additional examples to students on how generative AI can be used and what sharing of information is (not) acceptable in this unit, and discuss the implications regarding academic integrity.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Investigate the role of ICT infrastructure, such as computer hardware, operating systems, virtualisation, and networks, in providing Internet applications and cloud services
  2. Recommend cyber security controls to prevent and detect attacks and vulnerabilities
  3. Apply standards and industry best practices to manage networks, ICT services, and cyber security
  4. Summarise key professional, social and legal issues relating to the Internet, cloud computing, and cyber security.

The Australian Computer Society (ACS), the professional association for Australia's ICT sector, recognises the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). SFIA is adopted by organisations, governments, and individuals in many countries and provides a widely used and consistent definition of ICT skills. SFIA is increasingly being used when developing job descriptions and role profiles. ACS members can use the tool MySFIA to build a skills profile.

This unit contributes to the following workplace skills as defined by SFIA 8 (the SFIA code is included):

  • IT Infrastructure (ITOP)
  • Network Design (NTDS)
  • Network Support (NTAS)
  • Information Security (SCTY)
  • Security Operations (SCAD)
  • Problem Management (PBMG)
  • Service Level Management (SLMO)
  • Change Control (CHMG)

The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Framework defines knowledge, skills and tasks needed to perform various cyber security roles. Developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the NICE Framework is used by organisations to plan their workforce, including recruit into cyber security positions.

This unit helps prepare you for roles such as Systems Security Analyst, Network Operations Specialist and Systems Administrator, contributing to the following knowledge and skills:

  • K0001 Knowledge of computer networking concepts and protocols, and network security methodologies.
  • K0002 Knowledge of risk management processes (e.g., methods for assessing and mitigating risk).
  • K0004 Knowledge of cybersecurity and privacy principles.
  • K0005 Knowledge of cyber threats and vulnerabilities.
  • K0040 Knowledge of vulnerability information dissemination sources (e.g., alerts, advisories, errata, and bulletins).
  • K0044 Knowledge of cybersecurity and privacy principles and organizational requirements (relevant to confidentiality, integrity, availability, authentication, non-repudiation).
  • K0060 Knowledge of operating systems.
  • K0061 Knowledge of how traffic flows across the network (e.g., Transmission Control Protocol [TCP] and Internet Protocol [IP], Open System Interconnection Model [OSI], Information Technology Infrastructure Library, current version [ITIL]).
  • K0108 Knowledge of concepts, terminology, and operations of a wide range of communications media (computer and telephone networks, satellite, fiber, wireless).
  • K0111 Knowledge of network tools (e.g., ping, traceroute, nslookup)
  • K0130 Knowledge of virtualization technologies and virtual machine development and maintenance.
  • K0138 Knowledge of Wi-Fi.
  • K0160 Knowledge of the common attack vectors on the network layer.
  • K0200 Knowledge of service management concepts for networks and related standards (e.g., Information Technology Infrastructure Library, current version [ITIL]).
  • K0318 Knowledge of operating system command-line tools.
  • S0033 Skill in diagnosing connectivity problems.
  • S0073 Skill in using virtual machines. (e.g., Microsoft Hyper-V, VMWare vSphere, Citrix XenDesktop/Server, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, etc.).

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Online Quiz(zes) • • •
2 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books • • •
3 - Project (applied) • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Knowledge • • • •
2 - Communication • • • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • •
5 - Self-management •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8